Fun in Brinnon, WA

We spent the entire day at Brinnon, WA yesterday and we had a blast!

It's a very lovely and sleepy town. It's about a two-hour drive away from where we live but it was worth the drive. My husband's uncle and aunt owns a house along the banks of Hood Canal.

And of course, I took some pictures. They look really cool in black and white too but I'm posting the colored ones for now.

Out and About in Tacoma (B&W)

Taken outside the Tacoma Union Station/Washington State History Museum.


Yup, there was a camel right outside the museum in honor of a featured exhibit titled "Wrapped!: The Search for the Essential Mummy.".


Taken outside a cupcake shop called "Hello Cupcake.". We bought red velvet, pink champagne and strawberry cupcakes and ate them while taking pictures. They were soooo good that we didn't even get the chance to take pictures of them. Maybe next time.


Taken inside The Swiss Pub while my husband was having a glass of beer.


Well folks, that's all for now. Thank you so much for reading and looking!

Operation Redecoration: Living Room (Part Three)

Oh man, when is it going to end? Yup, I'm not done with the living room yet and now that I started working, who the hell knows if I'll ever finish this room.

I bet by the time I finished the entire redecorating process, it will be time to move. Ha ha.

Thing to figure out:

1) What type of wall art or whatever to put up on the gray wall behind the couch.
2) Where to put my husband's paintings of the cats (Yeah, he painted Sophie and Cali, our old cat).
3) Wait, there is a #3 but I forgot. Way too much stuff on my mind right now. Dammit.

Anyway, the fireplace is DONE and here are the before and after pictures!

BEFORE:
It looks pretty boring and lame and I have no idea WTF were we thinking when we put up the mirrors.

AFTER:
Painted the wall but not all the way and spruced up the boring black mirrors.

I'm currently working on the area where the TV is. Right now, the TV is in between two black shelves (shown in the second picture). I'll post pictures as soon as it's done (if ever, ha ha).

Anyway, thanks for reading and have a great day!

Holy crap, this blog needs some updating!

I can't believe it's July already and the sun is already shining before the 4th of July! Usually, summer does not officially start until AFTER the 4th of July here in Washington state!

Anyway, I haven't been blogging lately because of work. I started on the 22nd of June and my schedule has been hectic since. Seriously, I felt like all I did was wake up, go to work, get off work, prepare my husband and I's lunch for the next day, play with the cats, and go to bed.

And yup, the same shizz again the next day. The first week was total hell but I think I'm getting used to it already.

I just hate that I don't have time to take pictures anymore. =(

Anyway, here's some new pictures of Hermione. She's growing and she's crazier than ever lately.


Well, that's all for now.

I'll post more pictures later. Thank you so much for reading and looking!

Operation Redecoration: Living Room (Part Two)

I painted the wall behind the red couches! It's dark gray now!

I used Valspar Drizzling Mist in satin sheen. I think it made the living room appear super-cozy and it doesn't look SUPER-BORING anymore. I am so sick and tired of staring at the white walls.

Here are the before and after pictures.

BEFORE: Boring white walls. *YAWN*

AFTER: New wall paint and the new pillows from Target!
One wall down, whoknowshowmanymore to go!

Hmmmmm, I swear it looks a lot darker in person.

I said "Part Two" in the title because we haven't decided on what kind of wall art we're going to put up on the wall behind the couch. Technically, it's not quite finished yet. I'm pretty sure there's going to be at least two more parts to this because I still need to work on the fireplace area and the other side of the living room where the TV is located. We're planning on putting two tall black bookshelves on each side of the TV.

I can't figure out what to do with the fireplace area yet. It's another boring and yawn-inducing area. We'll see how everything goes, I guess.

Anyway, I really want to kick myself for starting late on the condo redecorating projects I have in mind but at the same time, I thought we were moving out so I didn't do anything. Now, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do much anymore because I start on my new job next Monday! I'm kinda freaked out!

Anyway, this is it for now. I have some pictures to upload and I'll get on that as soon as I can. Thanks for reading!

Hottie of the Week: Torrance Coombs

Okay, more like the "Hottie of the Month".

I haven't done one of these "celebrity crush" posts for awhile. I just finished watching all the seasons of "The Tudors" and spent a lot of time swooning and sighing over Henry Cavill (my god, he's one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen in my whole life!) while watching the episodes of the first, second and third season.

Then, I started watching the fourth season and OMG, I saw this guy, forgot about Henry Cavill for a second and nearly died (Okay, not really but you know what I mean.).

(Blah, I wish I took these pictures. He makes a beautiful subject!
Pictures courtesy of Google. )

He's really cute huh?

His name is Torrance Coombs. He played Thomas Culpepper (King Henry VIII's favorite groom who effed Katherine Howard).

Oh and he has a Twitter account where he talks about kittens all the time and pretty much tweeted a play-by-play of his cat giving birth to kittens.

Yeah, just check it out. Ha ha.

Operation Redecoration: Living Room (Part One)

Part One for now because I know this is going to take awhile. *sighs*

I'm sick and tired of the white walls. The reason why we never painted the walls is because we thought we're going to be moving to a bigger place so why do anything to the place right? Well, since we're not interested in purchasing a bigger place anytime soon so I think it's time to make changes and I am starting with the living room.

I mentioned before that we have red couches. Something really needs to be done with the darn couch. I am SUPER bored with the red, white, and black color combination too.

So, we went to Target yesterday. We weren't really planning on buying anything but we saw this aqua blue suede pillows and black and cream floral pillows on sale.

So here they are. I'm so tired of the red, black and white and
I think adding some aqua blue looks pretty awesome.

I didn't take a picture of the whole couch because it needs to be vacuumed and the living room is a mess as of the moment. I'll post pictures as soon as I finished the entire living room.

I'm also thinking about painting the wall behind the red couch. I really like the dark gray color.


Now I just need to buy pillows for the loveseat and maybe a couple of accent chairs so we can have more seating in the living room.

Anyway, that's all for now. I should try to finish as much as I can before I start working. I definitely don't want to be doing all this redecorating stuff on my sunny summer weekends.

Random Picture Friday!

Oh and by the way, I got a call from HR and I finally got a starting date for the Seattle job! I'm starting on the 20th of June. Woot! (This also means I get to shop for new clothes and shoes!)

It's probably going to be a bit harder for me to update this blog because who knows how crazy- busy I'll be. I'm not sure if I can travel as much anymore either so no travel pictures for awhile. I don't know if I'll have the time to take pictures either. Oh man.

It's kinda bittersweet because I love having all the free time in the world but at the same time, me having a job = more money going to our savings. More money to get photography stuff too. Oh and yeah, we can get a waaaaaaaay better (and bigger) house now.

Anyway, here's some random pictures for now.

Hermione's Paws.
It's so much easier to take a picture of her when she's passed out.

My Sophie-baby and her Baby Blues.
I love taking pictures of her because her eyes.

Ketchup Anyone?
I think I was a little bit drunk when I took this.

Peonies in Waiting
Just some random peony buds growing outside our building.

Please excuse the overload of cat pictures in my blog lately. I just love taking pictures of cats waaaaaaay too much.

Anyway, that's all for now. The weather here in Western Washington is super awesome as of the moment and it will stay like this all weekend. I am freaking excited!

I hope you guys have a great weekend!

Peonies in Black and White

I actually took this pictures in color but I love the how the images look in black and white.

I freaking love black and white photographs. I miss working in the darkroom. I miss the smell and the sound of flowing water. Seriously, a photo darkroom is one of the most relaxing places in the entire planet. Everyone should get the chance to work inside a photo darkroom.

Now, my "darkroom" consists of a laptop sitting on a coffee table in the living room. That's pretty much it. Hah.





So yeah, our new cat Hermione is settling in pretty well. Sophie still hates her, hisses at her and eats her food. They can coexist as long as Hermione stays out of Sophie's way and leaves her alone. Hopefully, they'll be good friends in a month or two.

Oh and yeah, I haven't even started on painting the living room wall. I really suck at finishing (or getting started on) projects sometimes.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thank you so much for reading, looking at the pretty (and not-so-pretty) pictures and giving a damn about my boring life. (HA HA HA!).

Shooting with Macro (Kinda)

Okay, I don't really shoot with an actual macro lens.

Those things are sooooo freaking expensive and honestly, I would rather save my money and buy a faster zoom lens. I want one with a 2.5 aperture and the one I want cost more than $1,000. I know, YIKES.

Anyway, I actually shot the images below using my Canon Powershot SX120 IS. I switch back and forth between the SX120 and the Canon S5. The Canon S5 has a supermacro setting but I haven't compared the two so I'm not exactly sure if there's any difference as of the moment. I'll let you guys know when I figure it all out though.

I don't think they look bad at all. I'm actually pretty happy with the results.

A white peony from a peony bush (or tree?) outside our building.


Some random stalk(?) or stem (?) of a rhododendron bush outside our building.


Another peony, up close (and personal). I love peonies!


Rhododendron up close.

Well, that's all for now.

It would be nice to own a macro lens someday but I'm not so sure if I really need one. I do photography for the love of the art and for fun; I don't earn any money from doing it.

So yeah, no money = no funds to buy EXPENSIVE stuff I don't need, ha ha.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you have/had a good day today. Thanks for reading and looking!

New Familly Member!

Meet Hermione, our new cat!

(Finally, I have a cat named after a Harry Potter character! YES!)

She's approximately 8 months old and according to her medical records, she's a Maine Coon. Not really sure if she's purebred or not (We don't really care if she is or not). We adopted her from a local animal rescue team. We adopted Sophie from them too.

So far, she's been awesome. She's a purr and headbutt machine. She chirps when she plays. She's exploring the condo as of the moment and trying her best to stay out of Sophie's way. Sophie on the other hand, keeps stalking her and keeps eating her kitty kibbles.

Excuse the messy background in the pictures. Hermione is living in our messy office right now. I'm trying to do the whole "cat introduction" thing but it seems pointless because Sophie just barges in the office and crashes the party. Oh well.


Can't you tell I freaking love cats?

I wish I can take a couple more cats into our home but it's going to be super crowded in our condo if I did. There's a couple older cats I fell totally in love with too. My husband said he doesn't mind taking another older cat in if we have a bigger place. Right after he said that, I kinda wished we're still getting the house! Oh well.

I hope the older cats find a loving home soon.

Anyway, this is all for now. I took a bunch of pictures during the weekend and I'll be posting them as soon as I can. Thanks for reading and looking!

In Memoriam

"For love of country they accepted death..." ~James A. Garfield

I'm a bad blogger but I have pictures and updates.

I was doing really good with the blogging too but this month, I hit a wall!

I mean, I try to think about what to write but nothing comes to mind.

Okay, let's get on with the updates.

Update on the House: Well, we decided not to get it. It really sucked at first and I think I was little bit depressed (hence I haven't been blogging and doing much). I think it's for the best. We're perfectly fine with our condo for now anyway.

I'll probably update a few things around the condo though. We never really painted the walls because we thought we're not going to stay here that long. I'm pretty sick and tired of the white walls. They have to go.

I might work on maximizing the space in our walk-in closet and the laundry room but we'll see.

Update on the Job: I have been in touch with the HR department and I got selected for the job so technically, I got the job. They're just waiting for the director to sign the paperwork so they can call me and officially offer me the job but shit, it's been almost a month now. I guess that's how it is when it comes to federal jobs. The process is just super-slow. It is how it is.

But you know, I'm not in a hurry since we're not getting the house anymore. I really don't need to work but if I don't work, we're staying in this condo forever and my husband and I are not too fond of the idea.

PICTURES: Well, I have been slacking in the department too. I've been super lazy. The weather is improving and we're going to start traveling again so hopefully, I'll start posting more.

Here's a few pictures for now.

I'm pretty obsessed with cherry blossoms this year.

Let's give it a try in black and white.

A trillium.

I really need to get the hell out and take pictures of other stuff besides flowers and nature.

That's all for now.

OMG, I neglected my blog!

Life has been crazy hectic lately and I really don't feel like going into details when it comes to stuff because I don't want to jinx anything.

Yeah, we're still dealing with the house. We are in the process of re-negotiating the price because of the horrifying stuff we found during the inspection.

I was selected for that Seattle job and I'm waiting to HR to call me. So far, no call yet.

Anyway, I have a couple of pictures! I've been slacking off in the picture department lately.

My husband and I baby-sat our friends' cat for a couple of days and I took some pictures of them.

They're so awesome and I miss them already.

Here is Luna. She chirps when she plays! I can't handle the cuteness sometimes!

And here is Mikan. He's so chill. I freaking love him!

Well, that's all for now. Please send me some good vibes. I really need it. There's going to be a lot of changes ahead and I am not sure if I am ready for them.

Hah, Never Mind

Well that was quick. Let's go back to the regular programming, shall we?

Minutes after publishing the blog post below, I got a call from one of the interviewer who interviewed me last Thursday.

He asked for more references because there wasn't one in the application packet I turned in. I immediately thought "Way to go, Michelle. You're an idiot!" but then, he said they were very impressed with me!

That's a good sign right? Yes?

I think the fire is back, people. THE FIRE IS BACK!

I hope I get this job. Please, please, please, please!

Nervous Breakdown Anyone?

Still no call from the job I had an interview with last Thursday.

I have no idea where else to apply. It seems like there's nothing out there.

Still no peep from the bank selling the house we want.


I just wanna cry and curl up in a ball someplace dark.


I'm a planner. I like planning my life. I like routine.

I am so sick and tired of uncertainty.

Really need to work on my patience...

...because apparently, I have NONE!

And yeah here's a warning: I am going to sound super-whiney in this post!

Still no paperwork from the bank/seller of the house. All we have from them is a verbal agreement but come on, we need that piece of paper so we can get on with the next step. It's been an effing week! Even our realtor thinks they're taking too long! We really want to bring in the inspector and a remodeling/renovation contractor so we can have an idea on how much work needs to be done to the house and how much money is going to be involved.

I just wanna shop for stuff already! I wanna pick out flooring, carpeting, countertops, kitchen cabinets, windows, patio doors....whatever. I also wanna pick and paint colors and I wanna paint, paint, paint, paint. I love painting!

Oh and I got an interview last Thursday for that job in the Seattle hospital. I really, really, really, really, really want that job. I hope they loved me and I hope they'll hire me. I swear, I'm going to cry like there is no tomorrow if I didn't get that job. My spirits will be crushed like no other and my heart is going to feel like a horse stomped all over it.

Okay, enough of that. I can't stand hearing myself whine and complain either.

Anyway, here's a picture for now. Roller coaster of emotions for me lately.

Sorry I've been slacking in the picture department. My allergies are driving me crazy and I can't stay outdoors for long periods of time.

SOTD(s): Images from the Photo Vault

Hello everyone! So many exciting things going on with my life right now. My head's been reeling from all the craziness!

Okay, first, I would like to share some of my early work. These are some of the pictures I took for my first photography class. I've been super busy trying to get our condo ready for sale that I don't have the time to take new pictures right now. I hope you guys don't mind!

Okay, let's get on with the updates.

House Update: The bank countered our offer and the counteroffer sounded pretty fair to us so sure, we'll take it. Paperwork is not being generated and we pretty much locked in the house. Let's hope for smooth sailing from here!

Job Update: I actually did an impromptu phone interview yesterday. It wasn't so bad but I'm not so sure about the job. Today, the hospital I want to work for gave me a call to see if I'm still interested in interviewing for a position. Um hello, of course I'm interested!

So please, if you can spare some positive vibes, please send them my way. I really, really, really need them.

Thanks and I hope you guys had a great day today!

P.S.: Is anyone having problems with Blogger using Internet Explorer 9? For some reason, I can't publish and edit my post using IE. I had to switch to Firefox in order to publish and edit this posting. This is frustrating!

Another House-hunting Update

Sorry, no pictures today. I've been super-busy and today, I wasn't feeling well all afternoon. *sad face*

Anyway, we put in an offer on THE HOUSE and we are super-excited. Haha, even my husband is excited and he was not that excited over the other houses we put in an offer before.

He even ran by the house during his daily run even though the house is not on his daily running route!

And now we're waiting on the bank, which is the seller of the house. They really loooove taking their sweet-ass time. We probably won't hear anything until early next week. Wish us luck. We really want this house!

Anyway, it's my husband's birthday weekend and we're gonna have a blast! I wish you all a good weekend!

House Update # WhoKnowsWhat

I can't remember how many updates I wrote about our house-hunting adventures in the past. Probably not that many but I can't remember.

Anyway, guess what? We're looking at a house tomorrow! We drive past this house a lot (and I staaaaaaare at it every single time)and we always wondered how much it's going for. I saw the listing today and it's pretty much in our price range!Is this some sort of sign?

According to our real estate lady, the interior needs some work but she's not sure how much work needs to be done so I guess we'll see tomorrow. The exterior and the backyard looks pretty neat in the pictures but again, we'll see what's up tomorrow.

About 2,500 square feet, split-level with a loft and the backyard is a golf course....damn.

Okay, no more talking about it! I don't want to jinx it!

In the meantime, here's another daffodil picture.

It's been sunny but cold around here lately but I don't care about and don't mind the cold temperature; I just love seeing the sun! Finally!

SOTD(s): Non-Sophie Kitty Pictures

Meet Nala.

Nala is my in-laws' adopted kitty cat. She's sooooo cute.

I finally got a chance to take a picture of her. She moves too much and so far, this is the only decent shot I'm not too ashamed to post on this blog.


I actually want to steal her, ha ha ha.

Fun fact about Nala: we're actually not quite sure if Nala is a boy or a girl.

Oh, wait a second! *digs up an old picture*

Anyway, pictured below is Pat. Pat was my in-laws' old kitty. Pat actually went to kitty heaven months ago. He lived a very happy kitty life.


Anyway, that's all for now. I have more pictures but I'll save them for next time.

My allergies are killing me and all I wanna do lately is lay down and close my eyes. Thanks for reading and looking!

SOTD(s): In honor of Earth Week

April 17 -23 is Earth Week.

Images were taken at the California Academy of Sciences Museum in San Francisco, CA.





Are you doing anything in honor of Earth Week?