Busy Busy

As you might have picked up on, this month has been a busy one. There has just been so much that has gone on since the last time I posted, two weeks ago, and even more since when our visitors left at the beginning of the month. So I will try to quickly summarize the changes and updates in our lives as best as I can for this whirlwind of a month:

• I have officially started my new job as a Senior Engineer with United Rentals. My start date was 10/17, last week, and I have been onboarding with them since then. Our engineering group is small in a large organization so there are a lot of required trainings and processes that I’ve had to do before getting started with actual work. Such a change from my first day at MJA when I was immediately given my first work task. I think that this change is the change I needed though with a much quicker work pace, looking to expand my licensure in states, Canadian provinces, and ultimately with the Structural Engineering (S.E.) licensure.
• My official last day of work at MJA was 10/13. I had one day off, my birthday, and that was a short day with the nanny coming in late and Reese’s school getting out early. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to my colleagues and everyone treated me so nicely. They had a goodbye happy hour for me at the old classic Owl n Thistle Pub and at least 15 people came out for that, brought me flowers from the Market and a card, gave a few toasts, and it was just a lovely evening spent with people I’ve known for a decade and my first real ties to Seattle. Everyone seems to think I will come back, and maybe, but definitely need to step a way for a bit too.
• This happy hour came literally an hour after a day-long interview process with Amazon. It was such a draining experience, this interview, and it left me conflicted on whether I even wanted that job. Fortunately, or unfortunately, whose to say, I didn’t have to make the difficult decision so I was able to quickly change my mindset to jumping into my new role at UR quickly. I don’t wish I could take back my time from that day but I would take back the agony and stress that Amazon caused for the weeks of the process leading up to that interview.
• We celebrated my birthday on my day. In my short day off I was able to get my freebie mega coffee from Starbucks, got my nails done, and got a massage thanks to a gift certificate from Bryan from almost two years ago, lol. All of that was glorious and the sun was shining and we spent the evening first playing at the Seattle Center playground, climbing the huge ropes, and then walking to get some of the best Lebanese food in the city at Tanoor and the girls were on great behavior in the restaurant, mostly calmly eating their fresh baked pita bread. We finished the night with a delicious peanut butter chocolate cake that Bryan made for me.
• We attended our friend’s second annual Oktoberfest party and it was again a blast although this year we didn’t participate in many of the competitions because 1. it was super smoky outside to a very unhealthy level and 2. the Mariners were on and the game ended up being a long drawn out scoreless saga that kept a lot of people glued to the tube. But we still enjoyed the brats and other Bavarian dishes, beer, and friends. Reese and Eliana in particular had a great time with one another.
• Bryan went to the Seahawks game with David and we pulled out a victory. He was going to doublehead that with a chance to see the Mariners in would-be game 4 but there didn’t end up being a game 4.
• Reese has now been a month in her new gymnastics class for the kids 4 and up and loves it and her new coach Lindsey. She’s learning a bunch of new stuff and loves to wear her leotards these days.
• We’ve had two birthday parties in the park already for Reese’s friends this month and we have two more in the next few weeks. Reese really seems to have some strong friendships building with those in her class which is great to see but we are also trying to tamper down the clique-ness we see with them.
• Weather has officially transitioned to fall very quickly. Last week we still were having temperatures in the 80s which is super odd for us here in mid October but that also meant we were still without rain and the smoke got to unbearable levels. We had to keep indoors for a few days and then just like that we got rain last Friday and the smoke cleared but we are now facing chances of rain nearly everyday and temps in the low 50s. I can’t find Reese’s rain jacket and realized after two outings that Brooke needs a bunch more things on her body before taking her out now…shoes included.
• Brooke is starting to walk. She’s taking handfuls of steps here and there. She got a bad virus that started last Wednesday night, just shortly after she started walking, and that had her down and out for a few days. I had to have her on me for Thursday and Friday while I worked and she slept and nights were rough gos as she couldn’t really breath out of her nose and that kept waking her up. Her fever passed on Friday and she started feeling better as the weekend went on.
• We’ve spent two glorious weekend days at Seward Park, after not having been in a very long time, and that’s been wonderful. It’s a nostalgic park for us and Reese loves the cool playground with zipline and Bryan and I will take turns going for runs to get some exercise in.
• We’ve officially started up a date night swap with our friends up the street. We were supposed to have our turn out on Thursday but with Brooke sick we had to cancel but we do plan on going out tomorrow night. It’s Restaurant Week so good timing, however, we aren’t confident that Brooke is easily put down if she wakes up in the middle of the night right now so we may opt for something nearby instead.
• We spent a day at Remlinger Farms with Sarah and Lottie on one of those warm weekend days earlier in the month. Reese and Lottie rode ponies and all of the rides. We got their delicious soft and fresh pumpkin donuts that are so good. We waited in long lines because it was extremely busy. And we officially wore the girls out and they both fell asleep on the ride home. We also got three pumpkins from the patch, although I’m the only one that ever goes out to get the pumpkins.

I think that covers most everything from the month. We have several events coming up in the next few weeks so it will surely be another busy month for us but I think with more fun events this go around.

Chelsea