Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Exciting news! I have officially made the switch to the new-and-improved Long Term Tourist! Yay!

Check it out here:

Tah-Dah!

Please don't forget to change your reader, bloglovin' or favorites page to this new address.

Head on over and check it out! :)

Hopes and Dreams

Lately I've been having many reflective conversations with friends and family. All of my friends here at home have come back from a year at college with fresh perspectives. We have each grown and stretched ourselves in different ways. We're trying to head in the right direction, but I think it's a little tricky to know just what that is.

Today on my walk with Jacob, we talked, and talked, and talked. We talked about our futures, about our opinions, about faith and fate. It feels good to have someone you can trust with a conversation like that, you know?

I keep trying to figure out just who I want to be. I'm just beginning this whole "real life" thing, after all!

Here are a few things that I've rested on.

I want to be a person who competes against herself, not others.

I want to be able to live by myself. (Maybe in a studio apartment-- wouldn't that be fun??)

I want to burn more candles. Especially the lightly scented ones, not the ones that make me sneeze.

I want to find more venues to perform.

I want to take good care of my body. (More zumba, please!)

I want to wear jewelry. Lots of it.

I want to graduate from college, while keeping my debt under control.

I want to learn how to shoot photographs in the manual setting.

I want to be compassionate and insightful with friends and strangers.

I want to be able to make any space feel like a home. (Guess what I just ordered for my apartment next year? :)

I want to become a really excellent thrift store shopper.

I want to learn how to make basic alterations on those thrift store finds.

I want to keep in touch with my close friends, no matter where we live.

I want to have a family. (Once I figure a few more things out ;)

I want to write... and just maybe even publish a book.

I want to be a supportive, loving sister.

I want to keep traveling. Always.

As I'm writing this, I just know that I'll be like, doing yoga tonight or something, and a million more things will pop into my head. But here's the list as it stands, in the middle of June 2011.

Maybe I'll check in with it again in a year or so. :)

Mini Summer Makeovers

Today's Oprah re-run was an episode featuring all of her past makeovers, and giving her "best makeover yet" to a few lucky ladies. It was kind of a fun episode! I'm not a religious Oprah fan or anything, but I do sometimes enjoy her show.

My sister, Nina, and I have been enjoying a few mini-makeovers of our own around here. Nina is attending the annual 9th Grade Dinner Dance tonight, which is sort of like a graduation celebration for 9th graders before they move on to high school. (We have junior high 7th-9th, and high school 10th-12th).

I worked on her makeup for a good forty five minutes. I honestly don't remember the last time I spent so much time on makeup!

To be fair, though, we were watching Ellen at the same time. :)

I think it turned out well! Soft and shimmery.

This picture makes me smile. She looks excited! It's their first dress-up dance.

I had my own little exciting moment with today's shopping finds.

I love these two! They were both on sale, and they take almost no effort to wear. Double win. (Sorry about the headless photo, by the way... I'm still working on the whole taking-a-normal-looking-picture-in-a-dressing-room thing.)

I worked on Nina's friend's hair while she finished curling her own. I'm not going to lie you guys, I was kinda freaking out inside. I've never done an up-do in my life. I kept my cool, though. ;) And actually I think she liked it! There were two little braids wrapping around in the front, too.

On to the dress...

I love her dress. I thought she did such a good job picking out something flattering and summery!

Awwww. hehe. She's giving me the "Do we really have to take another picture?" look. She'll thank me later. ;)

P.S. Do any of you guys know how to make it so I can reply to your individual comments? Is that some kind of code that I have to enter, or is there a little button that I'm just totally missing? I'd love to write back!

The Cherry On Top

Guess who learned to change her own car tires today? Me!! Which I realize sounds totally boring, but I feel like all of this car maintenance is kind of a step into adulthood, you know? Making me an independent woman? 

Maybe I'm letting it all get to my head. :)

I used a hydraulic jack...

A jack stand (for safety)...

and a little teensy bit of help from Jacob and my Dad...

  

to finally make the switch from snow tires, to the regular ones. I'm a little bit late... I know. :) That's what happens when I don't drive my car between January and May. 

 Haha. Apparently that's my concentration face?? 

Jacob and I left to treat ourselves to a little Starbucks after we finished. When I loaded up my camera tonight, I found a few pictures that my Dad snuck in there this afternoon.

Amazing, right?! Apparently we have a few frequent feeders (woah, say that one three times fast) right outside our front door. I love these photos.

Just to put the cherry on top of a nice, relaxing Sunday, I found out a little bit of fun news!

Luck was on my side today!

Eeee! Seafood?? I think we're going to plan a cook out. :) I personally love crab and shrimp. It's the Seattle girl in me, I think.

Small Town Celebration

Yesterday, our little town had a big celebration! Kirkland is finally annexing a bunch of "un-incorporated King County", making little Kirkland quite a bit bigger!

We were ringing in the summer with a farmers market, live performances from local bands (including one with my sister!), and plenty of food. As much as I adore city life, sometimes these homey afternoons are especially nice, too.

The whole place was buzzing with people. Thankfully, there was absolutely no shortage of treats to feed 'em.

Free strawberry shortcake! Free, guys!

I always love the food at farmers markets, but they really outdid themselves! We held off, though, because we had plans for a favorite restaurant later.

My junior high and high schools were both in territory that was part of this annexation, so the city had them play at the celebration. It was really fun (and kind of nostalgic) to hear them perform. 

(Are you guys seeing that sun, by the way?! The good weather has officially made its way to Washington!!)

The best part, though, was hearing my sister sing with the junior high jazz band! Nina has been their jazz singer for the past two years, but I really think she nailed this performance.

She sang "Fever" and Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why". 

I was pretty proud. :)

After that, we headed over to Pallino's Pasteria, in Woodinville, for some delicious (and light!) Italian.

Sorry about the uncomfortable looking picture; the sun felt much brighter than it looks! 

One last thing...

Check out the new scarf! Isn't it beautiful?? Target, people! Target! 

P.S. I really love getting your comments, so keep 'em coming! It's nice to make this whole thing a two way conversation. :)

Running Errands

It's pouring outside, guys!

Luckily, my productive streak has somehow managed to hang in there, so I've been running around checking off my to-do list all day!

I know how easy it would be for me to put my to-dos on my cell phone, but I just can't seem to let go of the real thing. I get so much satisfaction from crossing it out on paper!

I started off this morning by taking my sister to school at 8:15am, which somehow felt so early. I don't know what has happened to me this summer! I was determined not to come back and lay around on the couch for a few hours, though, so instead I turned on Exercise TV.

I've just recently discovered the free workouts from On Demand, and I'm completely addicted! This morning, I did yoga, kick boxing, and belly dancing!!! Somuchfun. Each of the workouts vary in time, but I like to do the 20 minute length so that I can try a few different types of exercise.

After I'd completely exhausted my calves, I took care of a few things with my car.

I had to remove the bike rack, add some oil, and change my USC window sticker. You know, the usual. :)

In other news, I found out a few days ago that I have unusually high cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Groan, I know.

I had absolutely no idea what that meant until I went to the nutritionist and spoke with her about the dietary changes that I'm going to need to make. Having too much of the 'bad' kind of cholesterol can cause my arteries to become clogged and is associated with risk of heart disease . Yikes! Right?

It's not a complete surprise that I have high cholesterol-- it's traced back through generations of my family. It's also not that big of a deal. Many people go on medication to lower their cholesterol and it never causes them any problems. For me, my doctor and I have decided to wait on medication because I'm relatively young to have this problem, and instead focus on good ol' diet and exercise.

When I think of all the other health challenges that people deal with, I feel so lucky to think that this is such a minor problem. It's good for me to improve my diet and put in a few more hours at the gym, anyway!

In order to jumpstart my new heart-healthy plan (writing that totally makes me think of Cheerios :), I stopped by Trader Joe's this afternoon for some shopping.

Sometimes I really enjoy grocery shopping! Favorite three finds of today? Almond butter (with roasted flax seeds), pomegranate greek yogurt, and vitamin oil to make my feet super soft.

I have some major blog changes coming up pretty soon, guys! You'll just have to hang in there with me until I get everything worked out. I'm also hoping to do a few more of these "day to day" type posts. I'm finding that sometimes I really enjoy reading about the basics, so hopefully you will feel the same!

Cabin Camping

First off, the Mariners won the weekend series against the Yankees. Two out of three games? I'm happy!

Also, I have finally figured out how to crack sunflower seeds in my mouth! Just like the baseball players, right? :)

Baseball is the only sport that I really get into, and I definitely look forward to going to games every summer. A night spent a Safeco Field is always a good one.

I spent these last few days camping with my family in Kitsap, which has made for a perfect Memorial Day Weekend! Happy Memorial Day, by the way!

Usually, when we camp for just a day or two, we rent one of these little cabins. It's much easier to not have to set up a tent when we get there, especially if we'll be moving out so quickly. I'll be honest-- I kinda like the heating, too.  :)

Most cabins have enough sleeping space for five people, unless someone chooses to sleep on the floor. The couch folds down into a surprisingly comfortable bed! This cabin even came with a microwave and a fridge, which was a nice surprise!

We've been in a few other cabins that don't have the micro-fridge combo, but they do have two separate rooms, one with the couch and table, and another with the queen bunk bed.  It's luck of the draw!

We set up our coffee table...

Added a few homey touches...

And moved right in!

I would absolutely recommend camping in one of these little cabins, or even a yurt, if you are a little bit camping shy. You still have to cook outside and use the public restrooms, but the whole process is a little bit more user-friendly. Of course, tent camping can be super fun if you're up for it.

The ladies all headed down to the water while my Dad was working on dinner.

A little cloudy, I know. But whoever let a few clouds get in the way of some fun??

Afterwards, I headed back to help my Dad with dinner. He worked on sloppy joes, while I took on the roasted corn.

1. Smother it in plenty of butter. (hehe)

2. Sprinkle on a little bit of salt. (I know you can't see it, but I promise, it's there!)

3. Close 'er up.

4. Tie 'em so they don't peel off while they're on the BBQ!

Now that's my kind of recipe! (If you can even call it that :)

They were delicious. Super sweet!

I hope you all had a good three day weekend! I've been nice and relaxed for a while now (gotta love summer), but work starts in a few weeks so I'm going to have to step it into high gear.

The Bachelorette is on tonight, by the way! I can't wait! :)