Weekend Update with Jill Marks

Updates from our world:

-Visits and travel! Graham's mom (Vicky) is coming to visit next Thursday for 5 days! Super excited to have our first house guest, and do some more exploring! We are going to Snoqualmie Falls, Museum of Glass, Pike's Place, and who knows what else! Oct 6-10...I am heading to STL/BG to celebrate the Grote/Jardosh wedding, see my bff and goddaughter, and visit with the fam-and apparently work a catering job for my mom...gag. Nov 3-6-Sis and Mauri come to visit! We are going to hit up the Space Needle, EMP, and go on a Puget Sound cruise. Really excited to see both of them. We will be home for Christmas Dec 23-Jan 1...still working out the details of where we will be when-hard to fit so many family/friend visits in a short amount of time. Once we have it all worked out, I will post it here-that way if you are going to be BG/STL the same time we are, maybe we can meet up!

-I got a new job! I start Sept 14, as a nanny for a family from our church-they have a newborn and a super smart 5-year-old that will be in Kindergarten. Possibly might be doing a nanny share with another family in our church who has an infant the same age. Really love the family and we are on the same wavelength regarding morals, expectations, and child rearing. Graham's work is going well-he is working on three projects now and it is finally keeping him busy! He is enjoying it more and more.

-We really love our church and are getting more and more involved. The Community Group we originally joined was getting too big, so we went to a smaller group in the area, and are loving it! The leaders are a couple we have made good friends with, Nick and Rachel, and we will be helping with outreach as the group continues to grow. It has been a huge blessing to find this church and the Community Group for Christian fellowship!

-Tonight, Graham and I have volunteer orientation at the Jubilee Center. Our church is one of the sponsors at this center for low income, under privileged families in the area. I have signed up to work their before school program on Thursday mornings and they have recruited Graham to teach computer classes to parents one night a week. We are both looking forward to the opportunity to serve God and minister to the community.

-We applied for a rescue Boston Terrier through an agency in Seattle. Unfortunately, they don't get many rescue puppies, so we now have to decide if we want an older dog or if we want to spend the money and buy a puppy from a breeder (anywhere from $400-700!)...we are keeping our eyes peeled and running some searches online every other day in case something comes up! Friends in our Community group have a BT and they call it the Boston Terrorist...which scares me a bit :)

-Weather has been BEAUTIFUL here...although it is overcast and chilly today. Hope everyone is well!

To dog, or not to dog?

So, as some of you know, Graham and I have been discussing the option of getting a dog. We both grew up with dogs, me with black labs (RIP Nick and Reggie) and Graham with boxers. We have a lot of hesitations at this point-time spent away from the dog, costs, living in an apt (is it a barker, need lots of room to run around), shedding, and my #1 concern...house training. We have done some research and while I wanted a lab and he wanted a boxer, neither one are very well suited for apartment living! Instead, we are looking at this:




















Awww...look at the cute Boston Terrier! I really want a black and white one, but Graham prefers the brindle (sp?) ones that look like this:

Not nearly as cute as the black and white, am I right??

Websites say this is a good watchdog but not a loud barker, has a good temperament and is generally well behaved, great around children, and requires moderate exercise. Anyone have a Boston Terrier or have any tips for getting our first dog?? Do share!

Likes and Dislikes

An alternate title for this post would be "Things we do and don't miss about St. Louis."

 We LOVE the weather here. We are in the non-rainy season, so for the most part we haven't seen much rain. The temps have been in the 60s or 70s and when the sun is shining, it is totally gorgeous! We certainly don't miss the awful heat of Missouri, although I do miss the thunderstorms. It doesn't storm here...no thunder, no lightning, no ominous clouds. It just sorta rains, then gets tired and stops for a bit but might get a second wind and give it another go later.

Coffee. Oh, how I love thee. Yes, there is coffee in St. Louis but in Seattle there is COFFEE. And it is everywhere. I have decided that Seattle-ites have a uniform of sorts: pants (usually jeans), a t shirt, a hoodie or sweater, and a coffee cup. I think the coffee cups are permanently attached to their hands.  In addition to Starbucks, Tully's, and Seattle's Best being in every strip mall, corner, and grocery store, there are also these tiny little coffee stands in practically every large parking lot you drive past. I find these are the best quality with the best prices. Graham doesn't like coffee and I had more or less weaned myself off of it, but now I am back...with a vengeance. I want a Keurig quite badly so I can make it everyday...Christmas maybe?

Things we miss about STL...obviously friends and family-OBVIOUSLY! I miss the ease of going anywhere in STL in 20 minutes. Traffic here is nuts, nuts I tell ya. "Rush hour" lasts for about 4 hours in the am and another 4 in the afternoon/evening. You have this tiny window of time between 10a-1p if you need to go anywhere. Pretty much we stick close to Newcastle and Bellevue during the week. If there is something we want to do downtown, it has to wait until the weekend!

It is so weird...but they don't have Sonic here. WTH?!?! We used to get it all the time in the summer at my old job and now that I can't get it, I think about it all the time. Strawberry limeade...yummy...first place I am going when I land in STL on October 6! Other than Sonic though, there is a huge selection of food here...particularly large amounts of ethnic food. Lots of Indian (yuck, not a fan at all!) and Vietnamese (ever had Pho? its pronounced "fuh" and there is a restaurant in Bellevue called What The Pho? Cracks me up every time I see it). I've had Pho once and willing to try again, and G really liked it. Eating out is very expensive here. In STL, we found that we could often go out for about $25 for the two of us, here we are lucky if we get out under $40. So, I cook a lot and there is great access to local, organic products at reasonable prices.

That's all I can think of for now...I'll probably write another post on this in the future!