Falling into Washington...

Well it's official folks - I am a card-carrying Washingtonian. Not only do I have a state license but I even have car tags! (or should I say car "tabs" as they say here...silly Washingtonians). It took me forever but I must admit I was glad to get certified in the fall - it's been my favorite season yet!!

Everyone talks about the beautiful summers - and it truly was. However, something about the fall has impressed me even more: the weather is cooler, the rain hasn't fully started, and the leaves are changing gorgeously. Being the "evergreen state", I admit that I was a little nervous that I'd miss the changing of the leaves we have in North Georgia, but it has definitely rivaled the Blue Ridge Highway (mom, don't laugh - you have to admit the fall in that area is beautiful!! even - dare I say it - more scenic than here! ;).

So now for the rain: apparently the official "rainy season" began about a month ago (yes, it actually has that name and official begin date!). So how do I know this you ask? Well I've mentioned my amazingly awesome free bus rides but I'm not sure I've mentioned the bus stops... To do so I should back up to explain campus a little: we are in the suburbs of Redmond about 10-15 mins outside of Seattle and our campus sprawls out like a college campus: brick buildings everywhere - over 100 of them!!! We have shuttles that run between the buildings all day (mostly hybrids, of course) and there are grassy and wooded areas bigger than half of the colleges I've been to. In fact campus is so big that it even has it's own bus station - that's right, not just a bus stop (there are many of those) - but a bona fide bus terminal. So imagine a big high school with the bus loop but there are public buses and microsoft buses - from "short bus" length all the way up to the tour bus types that go out to the burbs. Since it's so big there aren't shelters for every mini-stop within the station - but I never even noticed or thought anything was missing.

Enter the day before the first official day of rainy season: I walk to my stop in the afternoon as always and I see these obstructive white tents sticking out like 2 sore thumbs in our beautiful campus. Picture a big white tailgating tent with 3.5 sides covered and a see-through plastic "window" complete with white plastic panes. I had to stop and laugh. Silly kids - rain tents are for wimps!! I literally laughed out loud and took a picture. Who cares if people are laughing at me snapping a picture - this HAS to go on my blog!! So here it is :)

So the very next day was officially announced as rainy season day 1 with fresh coffee, juices, bagels, and assorted pastries at our morning bus stop when we got off the bus. How nice, I thought, it is hardly even drizzling!

All is fine and naive until Erika walks back to her bus stop in the afternoon, and folks I have to tell you - I tucked my tale between my legs and crowded into the ghetto rain shelter I had made fun of just the day before.

You live and you learn....

Now if I can just find an official raincoat I'll be set!

Happy Autumn and don't forget to enjoy the sunshine for me!!

Love,

e :)

New Format for the Fall :)

Hi everyone!

So I decided to shake it up a bit and change the format on here for the first time and I updated some of my links on the side while I was at it, hope you likey :)

I promise to blog more soon!!

Imagine...

http://5resolutions.blogspot.com/2008/10/friends-dont-let-friends-fat-talk.html

Football, football, and more football

So it's GAMEDAY and you know what's missing????

Babies. :(

Ok. I guess not every gameday can be like the last the weekend I was in ATL, but I sure miss baby david and baby hayden. Of course I miss all my georgia fam and friends (and by "Georgia", I mean the state and not just UGA OF COURSE)!! Good thing my JACKETS won last week AND this week to help ease the pain ;)

Now while it's nothing to do with ACC or SEC football, nor does it remind me of home (perhaps it what it reminds me of what is missing up here and what is exactly OPPOSITE of home), it has made me want to write about a recent trip: a University of Washington Football Game with Joe!!! While his parents were lucky enough to tour the Italian countryside, I was lucky enough to tour the "U-dub" campus with Mr. Joe: I was so excited - my very first northwestern college football experience!!!!

The differences were obvious right from the start - we took a bus to get there and did no tailgating, pre-game drinking, or flask sneaking. Different but certainly not unacceptable (don't forget - I was in the band). However, what was crazy was that we weren't the exception! We passed a few tailgates but not many at all and I don't think I even smelled beer the entire day. So basically it was the anti-UGA. ;) The stadium also felt very different inside - much more like a high school stadium with a large track around the field, temporary bleachers at one end zone with a soccer and baseball field squeezed in close behind. Very strange, but we had great seats so we could practically see the players' faces.

Then it got even weirder. I thought I understood the magnitude of the hot caffeine addiction up in these parts, and I thought I understood how different the culture was, but going to this game brought this realization to a whole new level. Do you know what the longest line in the whole stadium was for? The hot dogs? Nope. Sodas to spike? Not even a thought on these people's minds. (!) It was for COFFEE!!! I kid you not kids. There it was: a starbucks in a stadium. Not just a carafe or two - not just an option in the regular refreshment stand - an entire Starbucks store, complete with 5 or 6 baristas, the entire menu and all the fancy machines and flavors required to fulfill all of the orders. Crazy!! Add to that a city that just can't get their mind grapes around the fact that Coke is the superior cola by a million miles and I'm at a loss for words. Well...wait...more like full of new rants ;)

But hey - it ended in my first real, live Washington Honeysuckle sighting (and therefore tasting, duh! but alas, I could not get Joe to partake - his loss....) so I guess not all was lost....

So flash back to current day and here I sit in downtown Seattle - South Lake Union's Jillian's Billiards to be exact, and I have to confess I have this wretched black "G" sticker on my cheek. That's right folks - I'm sitting at a sports bar with Clay and the UGA Alumni of Puget Sound - I'm pretty sure this qualifies me for girlfriend of the year - and I'm pretty sure you should all remind Clay..... seriously - a "G" on my cheek!!! Oh the things you to support each other when you are in a city of strangers.....

One GA and one GA Tech win later, I'm back at home and thankful that Clay didn't think to get a picture of me. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take a shower and was the UGAness off me while singing every GT fight song I can think of... buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz ....