Day #3: Your parents, in great detail

 

Wiping the cake frosting off my face

My mom - Lori - She's a saint. It's pretty much the first thing that pops into my head when I think of all that she's been through and all that she's done in her life. She consistently puts others first, takes on what needs to be done without hesitation, and is one of my role models. She's faced a lot of loss in her life, but keeps on trucking and pushing through to the next adventure. She's the second youngest of 5 kids; the daughter of a pulp & paper mill worker and a homemaker. She grew up in Antioch, California, but was enticed to move up to Washington state after high school to be closer to her family. In high school she was a Thespian, often working behind the scenes or acting in a school play.

With her brother, Bill, at our wedding reception

 In her adult life, she's traveled, acquired her mother's knack and appreciation for family genealogy, been to college, worked her way up the commercial insurance underwriting ladder, taken on raising her 4 year old grandson, become "Gammy," and has been a great friend to many. I've always had a great relationship with my mom and have always been able to share just about everything with her. We had our moments of head butting when I was a teenager, but I'm sure a lot of us experience that at some point or another. Here's to my mom who will always be 29!

Making a toast at our wedding

 

My dad - Rob - He's an old soul, shares my love of nostalgia, and will also do anything for his family. My dad is the youngest of 3 kids; the son of an aluminum mill worker and a homemaker. He was born and raised in Vancouver, WA, only to have moved away from the area while we lived in Pasco, WA from 1982-1992. He's been working on the railroad for almost 21 years, has been an avid bowler for the majority of his life, and was once a sports reporter for his high school newspaper.

Dancing to "In My Life" by the Beatles

Although my dad has never been outside of the US, he does travel frequently around the country to many NASCAR hot spots. He's met his favorite driver, Rusty Wallace, on several occasions, been in the midst and busyness of the pit crew, and even got to try his hand at racing during a visit to Las Vegas at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. My dad and I are a lot alike; mostly quiet during group conversations, quick tempered, and ready to relive that moment from 1995. He's helped me out a lot over the years when I wasn't so hot with budgeting, and has been there for support when I've made tough decisions. He frequently told me when I was young that "big girls don't cry" and it was a motto that stuck with me when trying to stand up to others. I share a lot of with my dad and know we will always remain close no matter how far apart we live. In fact, he and Lynn (my step-mom) are coming to visit later today! Here's to my dad who shares my middle name, and who will always have a great story to tell!

I'm bad at blogging

Really, it's not that difficult. I spent the better part of the last decade blogging on Livejournal, but I've fallen way out of touch with writing online. I read and follow and tweet and post snippets of my life on a semi-regular basis, but when it comes to writing about my own business, I flake out. This blog doesn't really have a a theme at the moment, but I'm okay with that. I pay it a visit once a month, jot a few things down, and continue living (ultimately hoping for inspiration for that next great blog post next to which you'll place that gold star on your Google reader feed). 

Image from http://www.nataliedee.com/

Here's a topic: the places you've lived in the last 10 years! Just for kicks, I'm going back to 1999 when my great moving adventures began. 

1. September 1999 -  NE 58th St, Vancouver to NE 50th St, U-District, Seattle (sorority livin' for 9 months)

2. June 2000 - NE 50th St to NE 58th St, Vancouver (Mom's house for 15 months)

3. September 2001 - Ne 58th St to NE 105th Ave, Northgate, Seattle (with Theresa for 6 months)

4. March 2002 - Northgate to 8th Ave NE, U-District, Seattle (with a crazy 40 year old woman, Sara, and Hanako for 15 months. The crazy lady moved out in July 2002.)

5. June 2003 - U-District to a Bellevue storage unit (while I was in Romania for 2 months)

6. September 2003 - Bellevue storage unit to Franklin Ave E in Eastlake, Seattle (with Ashley for 12 months)

7. September 2004 - Seattle to NE 26th Place, Vancouver (my Mom's house for 13 months)

8. October 2005 - NE 26th Place to Ellsworth Ave, Vancouver (with Arnie, Matt and Jessie for 21 months)

9. July 2007 - Ellsworth Ave to Hazel Dell Ave, Vancouver (by myself (!!) for 14 months)

10. October 2008 - Hazel Dell Ave to 112th Ave, Vancouver (to move in with my boyfriend, Andy, for 4 months)

11. February 2009 - 112th Ave to Blairmont Drive, Vancouver (with my fiancee, Andy, for 17 months)

12. July 2010 - Blairmont Drive to NE Spring Ave, Depoe Bay, Oregon (with my husband (!!!) for ???)

Have I really moved 12 times in the past 11 years? We're already discussing moving back to the Portland area in the foreseeable future, but we won't be setting a specific time line as to not warrant any disappointment on our part if we can't find decent paying jobs right away. Living with family is an option if we need, but of course, we'd like to keep our big kid pants on and move into our own place.

Moving is always a stress and I can definitely say I've become great at packing and ridding myself of items I no longer need. For instance, we were able to rid ourselves of two couches, a coffee table, two end tables, lamps, multiple bookshelves, a bed, recliner, two desks, and other various household items before we left the 'Couve. However, about 50% of our stuff is still packed up in our garage. Are we using any of those items? Not at the moment. Do we need any of those items? Yes and no; I'd really have to take inventory to see what we have, but I SWEAR we're not hoarders (although I know a lot of what's still packed is books, childhood belongings, a video game/console collection, holiday decorations, garage items, etc.). On a sidenote, if you are not in the mood to clean, watch an episode of  Hoarders and you'll be good to go. We moved from a 3 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom duplex, so it's expected that we don't have room for everything. We downsized quite a bit before we moved to the coast, but it would be nice to downsize even more (if we can) before we make another move. Now that I've mentioned it, I think I'll go clean out my closet.

Day #2: Your first love, in great detail

I'm already behind...wtg, me!

First great loves: the movie Annie, New Kids on the Block, trips to visit my grandparents, trying to think of creative ways to earn money with the neighbor kids (lemonade/craft stands, neighborhood newspapers, En Vogue parody performance group).

My first love was MR (initials used to protect identity), and we maintained boyfriend/girlfriend status for just over a year. We met via mutual friends in December 1996, half way through our sophomore year in high school. We attended different high schools, but somehow ended up attending the same youth group with said friends. There was a lot of talk over whether or not we should 'go out,' and by the time everyone else agreed, he finally asked me on my way out of a car. This quick proposal was deemed cute & hilarious to my girlfriends; so cute that they decided to make a mock video of the event. It went something like this:

Scene: Two nervous 15 year olds squished into the back of a Ford Explorer. Vehicle reaches destination of girls' slumber party.

M - "I was wondering if you would go out with me...?"
Cara - "Yes, I will."
M - "Okay, great!"
Cara - "Okay, bye!"

Cara quickly exits the car and makes her way inside the house, pondering what just happened as her girlfriends squeal with glee. End Scene.

Yeah, talk about smooth! Some major events that occurred throughout the duration of our relationship included the attendance of a Veruca Salt/Bush concert, attending a church leadership retreat, long bus rides to each others houses during the summer, and going to my high school's Homecoming dance. We spent a LOT of time on AOL, chatting and updating our profiles to proclaim that we were "taken by SuperM**MC" or "taken by Berta629". We also spent hours on the telephone, even to the point where the conversation would lull and one of us would fall asleep. Our demise came about in February 1998 after an argument over something silly; he broke up with me the next day after church, showing little remorse. We'd simply grown apart and ended up arguing over nothing half the time. A few weeks later, I was still sad and he missed me, and we dated again for one more week before his mom finally told us to call it quits. We both obliged and knew we wouldn't work out at that point in our lives.

Our paths have crossed over the last few years at house parties and bars, and at one point, M did apologize to me for the way he ended our relationship. I think we were both buzzed when this took place, but I seem to remember telling him thank you, that it was water under the bridge, and I appreciated his apology. I may have also blurted out that he was promptly nicknamed Crackmonkey shortly after our breakup. When a 16 year old heart is broken, all you can do is pick a silly nickname and roll with it for years to come!

Day #1: Who are you?

I'm Cara. I'm half of this blog (although I complete 99.97% of the writing, Andy did contribute once), and wish oh-so-much that I had the tenacity to update it more frequently. I think this meme that I'm borrowing from April will help to break the mold.

So, I'm a daughter (to several parents of birth, step, and in-law variety),  a sister (to one sister and 3 step-brothers), a wife (to my adorable husband), an aunt (to my old-soul of a nephew), and of course a granddaughter, niece, cousin, friend, and co-worker to many others. I currently live in Depoe Bay, Oregon and although this town shuts down by 7pm each night, I love the quaint and quiet feeling that comes with it. We recently moved here in mid-July due to a job change on Andy's part. I'm working at Rogue full time, tending bar at our distillery. It's not very thrilling and I've had time to read a few books, in-between customers and tours. I'll most likely continue my job search, even though I've been turned down recently for two jobs that I thought were in the bag. :( With that comes reading up on better interviewing techniques! I'm not terribly excited to switch over to serving full time, but at least it will involve more interaction during the working hours.

I'm into crocheting, scrap booking, taking photos, traveling, thrift shopping, volunteering, cooking and baking. With our lack of extra spending money, it's allowed me to tackle on more crafty and baking projects. I'd love to delve into new volunteer work once I get my work situation straightened out, seeing as I've been volunteering in some capacity for the last 10 years. Our traveling adventures are on hiatus at the moment. And with photography? It seems I have taken more photos of food I've cooked/baked in the last year more than anything (which reminds me of a post idea!). 

I am afraid of change, and with that, afraid to start new projects unless completely certain. I've recently looked into the qualifications to become a Doula, but think that I should experience a birth of my own before really delving in (but I think I'm just creating an excuse instead of jumping in!). I've had a lot of biological urges to procreate in the last several months, but know that a few things need to be put in place before this becomes true to life (money, for one). In the meantime, I read awesome baby/parenting blogs (along with several others dedicated to marriage, crafts, cooking, baking, traveling, feminism, sociology, home design, and life in general).

Well, this is me in a nutshell on the 15th day of September, 2010. Thanks for reading!

Movie Trailers!

We haven't had television service in quite some time. One of the things I've been missing out on (and didn't realize until recently) is new movie trailers (which I loveLOVElove). Thanks to You Tube's The Tube Trailers, I can now catch up with the rest of the televised world and become super giddy over new movies coming to a theater near me. Here are more than a few of my favorites:

Black Swan (with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis)

The Next Three Days (with Russel Crowe)

Love and Other Drugs (with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway)

Freakonomics

The Romantics (with Katie Holmes, Anna Paquin and Josh Duhamel)

Burlesque (with Christina Aguilera, Cher and Stanley Tucci)

Heartbreaker (with a few French actors)

The Company Men (with Ben Afflek, Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Costner)

Due Date (with Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis and Jamie Foxx)

Stone (with Edward Norton and Robert De Niro)

Welcome to the Rileys (with James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo

The Dry Land (with Ryan O'Nan, America Ferrera, Wilmer Valderrama and Jason Ritter)

Flipped (with Anthony Edwards, Rebecca De Mornay, Penelope Ann Miller and Aidan Quinn)

Little Fockers (with Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro)

Winnebago Man Not sure why I've never viewed this internet phenomenon!