Canada

May 16-19, 2009



My first trip of the summer was a nice drive from Tacoma to Vancouver, Canada with the OT class's token Canadian, Andrea! We had such a wonderful drive chatting the whole way...I am sure that we are well on our way to being just the best of friends.

I was excited to spend a few days with Andrea in Vancouver before CJ picked me up on her 7 hour layover on her way to London. Once CJ got into town we went to see a few of the sights...just the three of us.

Then it was time to head back to the airport to catch our flight to London. I wasn't looking forward to the 10 hour flight but CJ assured me that the seats in coach would be plenty big and that she would even let me have a window seat if I wanted. So off to the airport we went...next adventure...London!

Traveling Europe

Sorry to everyone for delay in getting up blogs and pictures! I will start blogging more often and will catch up with all of the great adventures that I have tagged along for in Europe. Stay tuned!

SOTA end of the year PAR-TAY

Whew! Finally time to post the pictures from the SOTA end of the year party. I have to say, it was quite a busy evening for me.

It all started out with a lovely dinner of chicken stuffed with some sort of gigantic cheesy butter stick, green beans, salad, potatoes, and I don't remember what else...

After the baseball game the previous week, I stuck with soda for the evening.
Thanks, Maggie!
It was so fun to visit with my tablemates, Kim, Karyn, Maggie, Elissa, and Derek.
Derek promised to take me to Afghanistan if he gets deployed there. He is going to special order a helmet and flack suit for me.
After dinner, I made the rounds. Everyone was so excited to see me, and I was happy to see some familiar faces, though everyone was so elegantly dressed, I hardly recognized some people!
Ann and Dom...
Alison, Jackie, and Tonya...
Brenna...
Ashley...
Chris, Alex, and George...
OMG, I feel underdressed! Everyone looks so lovely! Erin, Steph, American Andrea, Karina, and Karina's boyfriend...
Leah loves me like a baby...Ed is not so sure.
Vanitha, whom I hadn't seen since the AOTA conference in Houston...
Michelle and Jeff, looking just a wee bit maniacal, don't you think?
Katie and Brandon were concerned about my low tone...
But some sweet cuddles with Brandon made it all better:
I even had front-row seats for a most unusual skit presented by the instructors (that's me in the corner of the window).
And I had an exceedingly odd encounter with Amanda, who is apparently afraid of dolls...or is it just me?

A nice visit with Sarah was just the thing to make me feel better.
And Melanie was also all kisses for me...
We even had a rather fearsome encounter with a shark on the way out...fortunately Canadian Andrea is a good swimmer, so she managed to make it to safety...
Off to Europe with CJ--who knows what she has planned for us!

Mariner's Game and SOTA end of the year par-tay!

Hi everyone,
Sorry for the long delay. I finally uploaded the pictures from the Mariner's game from earlier in May.

Enjoying some quality time with Britt...

...and Dom, Leah, and her hubby Ed.


Hanging out with Stephanie and Karyn, when Karyn wasn't too absorbed in the game to talk...

I guess I may have had a bit too much to drink....


I'm kind of a lightweight, after all...

...so I was feeling a bit, um, floppy toward the end of the night.
Here I am with Kim, Karyn, Leah, CJ, Katie, Britt, Gaea, and the back of Alex's head.
CJ and Katie, ably assisted by Austin, did their best to help me soak up the alcohol with grease,

but it was soon time to head home in the capable hands of Gaea and Alex. What a fun night!