World of the Wickseses

Update

It’s about time for another post. It has only been six months since I have updated our blog. Hmm… I really meant to be better at this.

The biggest change in the last six months is that Mark has moved out. Brad & I are back to living all by ourselves. When I mentioned this at work one day, someone said ‘Oh, you should be really happy! You are newlyweds; you need the time to yourselves.’ It was funny because this wasn’t how I thought about it at all. It was so much fun having Mark living with us and the house seemed kind of empty after he left. It is weird to think that I was worried that Brad and Mark would gang up on my constantly. It didn’t really turn out that way. I think Maddie is the most sad about the situation. The first few days that Mark was gone she kept going back and forth from his room to the window looking for him. It was really cute!

We are really happy for and proud of Mark, he has started school at Central Washington University (enter the snide glare here since they CWU is WWU’s rival). He is a little over half way through his first quarter and kicking ass! He keeps saying that is because he is in 100 level classes. To which I keep reminding him; my first quarter with 100 level classes left me on academic probation.

Brad, Maddie and I got to go visit him at school two weeks ago. He is staying in a really nice house that is close to everything! It made me missing being in Bellingham. He even has a Pita Pit close by. I think we will be hitting that every time we go visit him.

This summer is looking like it will be as busy as ever. We have three weddings to go to, one of which Brad & I are both in (YAY! Jason & Erin), we will be enjoying the sweltering heat in Vegas for 10 days, Brad is going to South Dakota with Mark & Dad again, we are going to participate in Relay for Life for the first time, we have a trip to Chelan planned with Kyle & Kelly, and in between all of this we will put my mom’s house back on the market and begin the search for our own house. I really thought we would have more time to relax after our wedding but that is never the case. Sometimes I wish that we had more time to just sit and relax but then a weekend pops up that we have no plans and I can’t stand it. I love our busy life and it would not be complete without any of the activities we do or friends/family we hang out with.

Negativity

I cannot say that I am always the most positive person in the world but I try my best to keep a good spin on what is going on in my life. I seriously do not understand how people can be negative about absolutely everything. There are people around me that cannot see the good in anything. It is driving me crazy!

If you are a negative person; negativity will follow you. It is plain and simple. Usually people that believe that the world is out to get them are the ones that have the hardest time. Now, I am not saying that people shouldn’t be realistic. Bad things do happen and you won’t get anywhere if you live with rose colored glasses all the time. However, being positive and seeing the good in things doesn’t do any harm.

• Change is not always bad; in fact sometimes good things come from it
• People are not out to get you
• Policies are there for a reason and are not always bad
• People will not always see things the way you do
•  Managers are not put in this world to make your life difficult
• People do not think or react in the same way

Ugg… Get over it ; get over yourself; live your life.

vent over.

it’s about time…

We have a free weekend for the first time since June !!! I don’t even know how to put into words how excited I am. Don’t get me wrong, I have thoroughly enjoyed our summer. We had so much fun hanging out with friends & family and going to weddings. However, I am so excited for a lazy weekend at home!

Poor Maddie has been a trooper; she had to spend some long days in the pen waiting for us to get back home to her. So part of our lazy weekend will include taking our little munchkin to the dog park. Maybe we will even be able to talk Mom & Kona into joining us.

When I brought going to the dog park up to my mom she said it would be a great training exercise for Kona… hehehe…. I will love to see how that turns out. We can’t even get Maddie’s attention with cheese at the Dog Park.

Well… only 27 minutes left of work then I get to start my lazy weekend off with yummy homemade pizza and K&K.

Busy week!

or really I should say: Busy Summer! However, this week is much busier than normal. There has only been one day this week that we have not had plans after work. This is absolutely unheard of in my life. Our weekends are usually busy but never the weekdays.

However, I have learned something exciting about myself from this busy week. I missed working out! Yep, you heard it. I actually enjoy going to work out everyday. I have never been able to say this in my life and it feels good to say it truthfully. I have been wishing for Saturday all week so we can go to the gym.

I was initially really hesitant to get a gym membership because of my horrible track record of working out. However, our gym is great! I have learned to use different cardio machines and I love it! I found myself telling Erin the other day that the stair master was HORRIFYINGLY difficult and I loved it. I could not believe those words were actually coming out of my mouth.

Overall, I just want to thank Myrissa for opeing anytime fitness on the ridge and chaging my life. (as corny as that sounds:) )

Happy First Anniversary

Saturday was the mark of Brad and my first year as a married couple. How did we celebrate you ask? Well I will tell you.

The anniversary celebration began on Friday night. Which I was completely unaware of at the time. We went to the Mariners game with Brad’s dad and a couple of his friends. The birthday and anniversary announcements started scrolling on the jumbo tron and I mentioned that I still wished that I had done that for Mark’s birthday. However, it is over $100 so I thought it was a little too pricey. Brad argued with me ‘No, it is $50.25.’ Me being me, I continue to argue with him; I am certain it is over $100. He tells me to just watch. I thought it was weird that he was so adamant about it but I thought it must tell you at the end. As I sat there I read one that said ‘Happy Anniversary Baby Bear.’ I read the Baby Bear over and over thinking it was weird that someone else would have that nickname. Then I finally made it to the next line where it said ‘Love, Brad.’ It was weird; it took me a few minutes to realize that the message was for me. Then I got REALLY excited! I had always wanted to come to a M’s game and have something on the jumbo tron. So, Brad was right; it only costs $50.25. I had been looking in the wrong section. Oh well… maybe next birthday game.

On our actual anniversary we had some errands to run. We had to go to both the DOL and the DMV. I shudder at the thought. We got up early to head to the DOL before it opened so I could get a copy of my driving record. We show up and the line is halfway down the building already. I was so worried it was going to take hours. However, we got in and out in about 10 minutes after they opened. To make it even better the guy, brace yourself, laughed and made a joke! It was amazing.

We had time before the DMV opened so I could the paperwork for trading in the focus so we went to Patty’s Eggnest withmy mom and Steve. It was a great brunch and a nice way to celebrate our anniversary with them. Then we were off to the DMV. Same thing; in and out. They lady was also very nice and made jokes also. SCORE!

Off we were again. We headed back to Kirkland to give Honda my paperwork for the focus. We were back at home by 1:00! Our errands went so much more smoothly than either of us imagined. It must have been because it was 8/8 and as we all know… this is a lucky day!

Now it was time for the real anniversary festivities to begin. We got home and took a little nap. We were exhausted from getting home late from the M’s game (they won in the 10th by the way) and getting up so early for the DOL.

We went to Tango in Seattle for dinner. Tango is an incredible Tapas lounge. It is a small restaurant that you would not expect to find in they busy Westlake center area. It was dark and cozy; perfect for our celebration dinner. We got there for happy hour and got four amazing Tapas. We had Queso Fundido, Albondigas, Carnitas del Puercoand Spanish Coca. They were all delicious! I wished I had more room in my tummy! We finished off the night with their famous dessert: the El Diablo: Bittersweet cube of sinfully rich dark chocolate graced with cayenne, spicy almonds, cocoa nibs and burnt meringue finished with a tequila caramel sauce. It is by the far the most amazing dessert I have ever had. Brad and I couldn’t even finish it. Time to roll ourselves home.

During dinner I asked Brad what the best thing was from our first year of marriage. We both agreed that it is Maddie. Having the added responsibility of a puppy has shown us that we can take care of a living being and make decisions about her together rationally. We love that little girl and wouldn’t know what to do without her!

Over the past few nights Brad had made us some homemade ice cream: Peach Raspberry Vanilla. So we went home and enjoyed that with a bottle of Wapato Point Late Harvest Riesling. We sipped wine, ate ice cream and watched movies. It was the perfect anniversary.

for inquiring minds… no, we did not eat the top of our cake. We actually didn’t save it.

oh… and thanks to Kyle for posting these lovely pictures of us with an anniversary wish. We are a hot couple!

New CAR!!!

Last weekend I drove over the pass in my little Ford Focus. I had known it was going downhill but when it died on the pass I got a little freaked out. When I would drive down steep hills, at less than 10 miles per hour, with the clutch pushed in the card would turn itself off. It would always re-start right away, however, it is very unnerving.

When we were eating dinner with my mom, my brother and Steve and I was talking about the car dying. The more we talked about it the more I realized that it was probably better to get a new car before the Focus was completely worthless.

That night Brad & I started looking at cars online. We thought that the Subaru Impreza looked like a good option. So we went to Subaru on Monday after work. It turned out that the Impreza was a lot smaller than I had realized. A Toyota dealership was right next door so we went to look at the Rav 4.  I completely fell in love with it. However, when it came time to talk about prices I will a little overwhelmed. We ended up leaving and decided we would think about it.

When we got home we started looking at the Honda CR-V online. It turns out that the CR-V is about $4,000 cheaper than the Rav 4 and has a lot more perks to it. So, last night we went to test drive one. The only downfall that we could see was that the CR-V is a 4 cylinder and the Rav 4 is a V6.

Well, it turns out that the little 4 cyliner engine puts out plenty of power! After three hours of sitting in the car dealership I was on the way home with a beautiful new car!

I was kind of surprised to find out that after I cleaned all of my stuff out of the Focus I will a little sad to see it go. I also felt almost sick to my stomach. It was so weird. I knew that I should be super excited that I just got a REALLY nice car, however, I just felt totally overwhelmed.

That didn’t really last all that long though. When I got home and went through all of the stuff that was in my car and decided what should be put in my new car I started to get really excited. Brad and I ended up sitting in the car for about 20 minutes just looking at everything.

Maddie is a little apprehensive about it. She walked in a circle around it sniffing like crazy. I opened the back where she will get to sit and tried to get her to jump in. She really didn’t want to. Finally, I just picked her up and put her in. She smelled around a little bit and didn’t really know what to think.

So, overall I am feeling very spoiled this week and super excited about power windows, power locks, a moon roof and air conditioning!

It is about the same color as Brad’s car. I tried really hard to like a different one but this was my favorite!

Already equipped with my watter bottle!

I’m pretty sure that even Mark will fit back there. =)

The Single Life

I get to live the single life again for five days. Brad and Mark went to South Dakota with my Dad to shoot Prairie Dogs. Now, before you go all PITA on us; they are pests. They burrow down in the cattle fields and the cows break their legs in the holes. Maybe it would be better if I said that they were going to do pest control?

Anyway, that means that Maddie and I have the house to ourselves until Sunday! What are we going to do with ourselves!?! Well, we will have to partake in all things girly. I plan to eat cheese and crackers for dinner, watch chick flicks, paint my toes and scrapbook. Oh and don’t forget the lovely poster that I need to finish for work. Yes, you heard that right. Poster for work. I feel like I am in middle school again.

I will miss my hubby and even Mark a little bit.  However, I do enjoy being able to spend a little girl time. OH! I also get to lay all spread out and take over the whole bed. For some reason, Brad just doesn’t appreciate me doing that when he is there. Hmm… what is with him?

Oh, and little does Brad know. He will come home to find the baby gate in the bathroom gone. I am fully confident that I can teach Maddie not to eat our shoes this week. I am so sick of stepping over that thing!

Space Needle

I love my job today! Once every couple of months I get to do a site visit. The idea is that we will go to different restaurants and hotels in the Seattle/Bellevue area so that we know where to recommend to our customers. This is the fourth site visit I have been on and by far the very best! Anna and I got the opportunity to go to the Space Needle.

All of the site visits have been a lot of walking around, looking at the restaurant and maybe a little bit of sampling. Well… not here. We got to there and the manager of private dining, Ken, took up straight up to the restaurant and got us a table.

Per the compass gifting policy, we can only have samples and no alcohol. Well, Ken believes that samples are HUGE. He ordered about a million things off the menu. Ok, to be a little more serious; he ordered about half of the menu. Anna and I reminded him that we could not have a full lunch; we can only have samples. He said that no one would eat a full lunch but that did not mean that would couldn’t leave full.

We sat, ate and talked while I watched the Space Needle do about 2 and a half revolutions. For those of you who don’t know, it takes 45 minutes for the Space Needle to do one revolution. The food was some of the best food I have ever eaten. We had oysters, crab cakes, Caesar salad, french fries, butternut squash soup, steak, salmon, crab mac & cheese, chicken, vegetable gateau and to top if off dessert! It was unbelievable! I was so surprised to find that the oysters and the vegetarian dish were up there on my list of favorites. I always have the idea that oysters will be sandy and chewy. These oysters were perfect! I could have eaten a million of them. I never think to order vegetarian, why would you when the meat is so good!?! However, I may have to rethink my stance in the future. The spring vegetable gateau was one of the best foods I have ever eaten!

I left feeling a little guilty but we really didn’t eat an entire meal. Just a little bit of a ton of things on their menu. The view was breath taking and Ken was really nice. He told me that if I ever come back to let him know and we will get the special treatment! I wonder if that is against company policy???

I always thought that it would be a waste to pay for private dining there because it was so low to the ground. Today I found out that I was completely wrong. The private dining room was beautiful and had a great view!

I am very thankful that my job allows me to take part in such a fun way to learn about the area we live in.

Working Out

Mark joined Anytime Fitness a little over a month ago. It has gotten me motivated to start working out. He went 29 days last month and was the gym’s highest user. This month I plan to be on that list and hopefully to beat Mark.

So far, I have gone everyday this month. Ok, so that is only 5 days. However, for me that is really good. The only sad part about it is that I started way too late into swim suit season. I will probably be losing all the weight I really want to get rid of right about the time the sweaters need to come out again. On the bright side, there will be sweaters that I can wear again!

well…. here’s to trying!

Miss Maddie

It’s hard to believe but our little puppy is one year old today!

Disclaimer: (If you don’t know this already) I am little obsessed with Maddie and if Brad could comment here, he would point out it is probably more than just a little obsessed. What can I say? She is the cutest dog of all time! hehehe

I am truely amazed when I think back to when we first got Maddie and how far she has come. When I said that I was getting a puppy people would give me that look of “Are you sure!?! They are so much work!” Well, I grew up around dogs, I obviously knew how much work they were. That is where I was so wrong.

When we first got Maddie I was shocked to learn that she didn’t know anything, and I mean NOTHING. She didn’t know what no was, she had no clue that we would actually want her to come when called and she had no idea what the heck that weird name we kept calling her meant. She had endless engery and loved to bite everything. Her favorite game was when I was sitting on the floor to jump on my back and bite my hair. Of course, she was always just out of my reach. Brad and I even had to get ready in shifts so that someone was always watching our devious girl.

I remember one morning specifically; I was exhausted and Maddie would not stop biting me. I got so mad at her and started crying. I told Brad that I thought we made a mistake in getting her. Which is so crazy to think of now.

Here we are nine months later and that crazy puppy we had seems to have disappeared. After lots of hard work and two obedience classes, Brad and I have ourselves a real dog. Now, I am not saying she is perfect; she is far from. However, she will come about 90% of the time. She looks at you with her head all cute and cocked to the side when you say her name. She was the prized pupil in her intermediate class. She knows several tricks and very useful commands. She can even go in the yard without a leash! That was by far our biggest accomplishment.

My goal for Maddie in the future is to be able to pass the Canine Good Citizen test. We have a long way to go but she is a smart cookie. I have no doubt that she will learn everything needed to be the “perfect” dog.

Maddie has brought so much to our home. She truly is a sweetheart. Even though she tends to be a little retarded at times. I don’t know what we would do without her.

Maddie on her first day home

Getting Bigger

Maddie ‘The Real Dog’

Maddie doing what she loves most… RUNNING & chasing the birds

From the blog