Friendsgiving

After college I started a little tradition of Friendsgiving...or what I have entitled my Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Feast. The holidays are all about spending time with family; but my friends are also my family and before we all head off every year I love being able to pull all of us together to enjoy the same thing we will with our family. A Thanksgiving feast! With all the trimmings.

I've been doing it now for 5 years, and every year is different. Each year has a new obstacle to overcome (typically its with one of the side dishes going awry). One year it will be not having enough space to cook all the food and transporting the turkey from one location to another (cooked - with the juices going all over the car...awesome smell afterward let me tell ya). The next year it will be the turkey not being cooked on time. THIS YEAR was the mashed potatoes. My beloved potatoes. MY FAVORITE PART of thanksgiving.

I tried a new recipe this year, and must have mismeasured or something....added to much milk to quickly and they became mushed potatoes. A somewhat runny potatoes that were not clear mush but not real potatoes.....damn it. They did settle somewhat after standing a bit....but not to MY liking. They still tasted good and everyone seemed to like them (as there were ZERO leftovers), but it was my own personal disaster.

BUT besides that it was a wonderful day. Full of friends, food, drinking, football. I find myself constantly reminded of how blessed I am. To be surrounded by such amazing people. My friends and family are the most wonderful source of love and support for me. The only thing missing from the day was my sister who was unfortunately stuck home sick. But I did send her leftovers that she was able to enjoy days later when she regained her taste for food.

Hoping everyone else is able to spend their holidays truly grateful for what they have in their lives. Because no matter how hard things may get, and how hard our lives can sometimes seem the one thing we should realize is that typically we're better off than majority of the population. We're unbelievably spoiled in our lives and if I can provide only a portion of the happiness in my life to those around me then I can feel like I've done at least something right.

Peek a boo!

My organizational skills at their best...damn I'm a nerd

Turkey - all wrapped in love and yumminess!

Mom helping with the prep work

more organization

veggies extreme!

the aftermath...yum yum delicious

Ms. Rich and I pregaming 

its as big as my FACE!

All decked out for the party!

End of Summer - Minnesota Style!

Labor Day weekend....the culmination of all things summer....damn it...did i GET a summer this year?! Well given that Seattle's summer only started oh 3 weeks prior to Labor Day it seems weird to already be saying goodbye to it....but such is the life of a Seattlite. 

I was lucky enough this year to be able to jet off somewhere new for Labor Day while being brought back together with old friends. Minneapolis was the destination to visit my fabulous roomie (I refuse to call her my ex-roomie btw) Katie. We may live thousands of miles apart but we are still and will always be roomies :)

By the time I arrived it had been two months since she'd moved back to Minnesota and I think we were both ready for the return of some normalcy....even if we were not in our old apartment and in a completely different state. We were reunited....and it feeeeels so good! Sorry....I'll stop singing...promise!

The weekend was exactly what I had asked for and exactly what the doctor ordered. I arrived Thursday evening and Katie and I made dinner at her house and sipped on some wine, catching up on ALL the things that happened over the last couple months. We'd been saving up all the good stories from our phone convos because we knew that dishing in person would be so much better. 

Friday was a chill day as Katie headed out to work and I used the day to detox from work and life in general. Getting a nice 3.5 mile run in and exploring her neighborhood.....I will say that somehow I got lost on my run (Still not ENTIRELY sure how)....considering it was supposed to be a loop around the lake....only THIS girl could get lost when supposed to be running in a circle :)

We headed north that afternoon to Katie's hometown to enjoy some much anticipated homemade cooking, lake time and family time with the Rasinski clan. The weekend consisted of some true Minnesota activities!! Horseback riding, apple picking, driving tractors, bonfires, a turkey feed, tubing, waterskiing, and just enjoying the amazing outdoors. I honestly can say that this was THE BEST weekend I've had in a VERY LONG time. It was just refreshing to be in a place where you could be out and about, with family, friends, and having a great time. Her family took me in as their own and I cannot tell you how much it warms my heart. Her mom and dad, Dyana and baby C! I love them to pieces. And this whole trip made me miss my roomie very much though! Leaving Minnesota was almost as hard as the day that Katie moved. 

Its brought some serious thoughts about looking at potential opportunities out in Minneapolis...but those are thoughts to mull over in my head for now.

Here are some pics from the weekend festivities!

Team Alex - Running for a Cause

As most of you know, I have been training for a half marathon that I will be running in Las Vegas on December 4, 2011. Originally I began this training and decided to also challenge my friends and family to help me raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Well, some of you may or may not know, but last week my nephew Alexander was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

The week started like any other week. I went to work, getting back into the swing of the week and prepping myself mentally for my 3 mile run that night. And then it all changed. With a simple email from my mom telling me that Amanda was bringing Alexander to Seattle Children's Hospital. I immediately freaked out. My mind went to the worst possible scenarios. How could something be wrong with my handsome little man?! He doesn't deserve to feel any kind of pain, and my sister and brother-in-law do not deserve to go through this, to watch their son deal with illness....

So of course my mind was going a million miles a minute. And then another email telling me they were testing for potential diabetes. Still my mind kept going, it wasn't as bad as I had originally made it out to be, but still....this was not something that they should have to deal with.

The next 3 days were spent at Children's Hospital. With the first night being spent in the ICU, Alexander hooked up to an IV and having his blood sugar levels checked every hour. I'm pretty sure the hardest day was the first, at least for me it was. Alexander having IV lines in both arms, being hooked to a machine and all he could do was look to each of us and give the saddest face I'd ever seen. He just wanted us to help him, to take them out of his arms, let him be free. Crying. And we all had to look at him and tell him we couldn't do it. That they were gonna help make him all better. My heart just broke. Over and Over and Over.

After the first day he was able to have the IV's taken out, and we roamed the hospital. Rolling his cars/trucks all over the place. Nurses would laugh and comment that Alexander was quite the roamer! Going ALL over the hospital. He especially loved the Giraffe statues in the hospital. Wanted to be lifted up and touch their noses. During the next few days we all went through a LOT of education. Checking blood sugar levels, counting carbs, insulin injections and the list goes on.

Alexander is home now and everyone is adjusting to the new way of life. And Alex is....Alex. The happy, smiley, laughing, goofy kid we all love. The one that brings more joy than we could ever ask for in our lives. And so he makes it all worth it.

Throughout this whole process I have to say that the thing I'm proudest of is how our family came together. We were all there for each other, as much as we could be. Because I know that there are things that I can't do to make the situation better. No matter how much encouragement we give, support you offer....sometimes there are things that no one else can help you get through. But we can try.

And so with everything that’s happened in the last week with Alexander’s diagnosis, I can’t ignore that there is a new cause that I am determined to devote my time and effort too.

I am still maintaining my fundraising for St. Jude; however, I have decided I can’t wait till the next race to start fundraising for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). So I will be splitting the total campaign effort of $1,500 between St. Jude and JDRF at $750 a piece. I have set up my fundraising page for JDRF and you can now start putting your donations up!

I am so grateful for the amazing family and friends I’ve been blessed with, especially my little man Alexander. And I hope you will take a stand with me and help do all that we can to find a cure. He deserves nothing but the best life that we can give to him, and this is one way that I know I can help support not only him, but Amanda and Nick as well.

I ask that you please support me and more importantly Alexander.
TEAM ALEX ALL THE WAY! SO STRONG!

The link for the website is
http://jdrfevents.donordrive.com/campaign/amybodnar


Love you all
xoxo
Ames

A Coastal Voyage!

It has been nearly two years since I've made my move to the Pacific Northwest. TWO years?! Already!? I feel like I just got here yesterday. There can't possibly have been two years that have lapsed that quickly! But yet its the truth. As evidenced by my nearly 2 year old nephew Alexander who was born just one month after I moved up here.

To say that the last two years have been a rollercoaster would be an understatement, but I feel like I've gotten my footing and am thoroughly enjoying this life I've created for myself. Now to say whether or not my life will stay put in Seattle is hard to say. I've definitely still got the itch to experience life in more cities (New York, Chicago, London, etc.) I could absolutely see myself continuing to skip around states for awhile. There's so much to see and live and experience I almost can't stand it! But all that will come soon enough!

I do know that for at least the next couple of years I will be staying put in Seattle, and that is largely due to the fact that the majority of my immediate family is here. My sister, brother-in-law, nephew.....AND now offiically my MOM! :-)

That is right folks. After this past weekend my mother is now officially moved to Seattle, and needless to say Amanda and I are thrilled to have her here with us. This has been a long time coming (at least 2 years worth of discussion - since I made the move up here). With both daughters and her grandson up here, the logical choice for her was to move close to us. So thats exactly what she did!

I met mom down in San Diego on Thursday, and starting Friday morning we headed off in her little Hyundai and made the coastal voyage up to Seattle. It took 2 1/2 days of driving, lots of quality time, bathroom breaks, hilarious picture taking opportunities, some not so funny traffic jams, but we made it! With all of our hair in place, limbs firmly attached to our bodies, no scrapes or scratches, and the car in one piece! All in all a successful trip!

And now, mom is settling in with me at my Green Lake townhome. Given that my roommate moved to Minneapolis and I was in need of someone to fill the second room until my friend Jillian could move in at the end of her lease, it just happened to work out perfectly that mom was moving up at the time she did. I'm so excited to have her close by and be able to have her around full time! Its amazing how the powers that be can line everything up in a way you don't quite understand at first, but that once you pay attention unfold into the most intertwined series of events!

SO! Now to recap the beautiful journey we took of the coast!!

Day 1 - Coastal California!

Mom and I were on the road by 5am from San Diego! Yes 5am...and for those who know me I am NOT a morning person...AT ALL! But with coffee in hand we headed off on a drive up the California coast. First destination was Concord, CA (About an hour south of Sacramento). It was an estimated 10 1/2 hour drive for the first day!

I took the drivers seat for the first day and we drove up the 1 for majority of the day. Taking our time and enjoying all of the coast. Stopping for breakfast in Pismo Beach, and along the way for little stops and pictures. Mom was in charge of the camera.....needless to say the first days pics were of the inside of the car, her knee, a missed sign :)

I have to give her major crap for it too because its what I do best! I believe the first line in a daughter's job description is to torture her parents mercilessly...and I take my job VERY seriously!

Don't worry though! I've discarded those photos and left those that were discernable here in the blog :)

All in all the day was absolutely amazing. Beautiful scenery, great conversation, limited traffic.....that is until 5pm when we hit the Oakland area....UGH! Let me tell you it took us an hour and a half to go 40 miles...Northern California I HATE YOU!.....California reminded me in just ONE day about how I LOVE it and HATE IT! But we survived....barely. With our stops in Pismo Beach, other spots, and the traffic, we didn't arrive until about 7pm that evening. 14 hours later we enjoyed a beer at dinner and hit the hay early!



Day TWO! Oregon Bound!

We started day two off much happier than we ended day one (Stupid effing traffic!!!). Especially with coffee in hand! Day two was split drivingwise between my mom and I. She started the day finishing up the rest of California, and I took over once we hit Oregon.

I have to say that day two proved to be not as breathtaking on the scenery scale, but no traffic was a HUGE blessing. AND mom and I put our foot down and shaved off a total HOUR or more off the estimated drive time. We left at 8:30am and arrived in Portland by 6:30pm, and this included an hour rest stop for lunch and gasing up (FYI - Oregon is a state in which you CANNOT pump your own gas....remind me NEVER to move there because OH MY WORD...20 minutes to get gas...REALLY PEOPLE?!

Anyway - Concord to Medford took about 5 hours, and then I took the wheel and made it from Medford to Portland in 4 hours. Crazy how the California coast took us approximately 16 hours to drive....Oregon - a mere 4 1/2. WHOA

The mountains along the way though were some of the most gorgeous I've seen, and mom thoroughly enjoyed the downward slopes throughout the drive. Again - at the end of our drive we stopped in Portland for a nice dinner and a beer of course.

ALL the crap in the car! AHHH!!!!

Can you tell that I was in charge of the camera at this point?! :)

SUNFLOWER FIELDS!

starting to get goofy.....

wait....Phoenix?! I thought we were in OREGON!?

FINALLY IN PORTLAND!

Day 3! The final HOURS!

Heading out on our final day, mom took the wheel! Mostly because I wanted to make sure I got good photos of the last pieces of our trip.....sorry mom but its the truth :)

The trip from Portland to Seattle is a very short sweet trip. 3 hours in total (we made in just under 3....speed demons that we are!) And along the way I actually found a LARGE stretch of freeway thats 70 mph! HOLY CRAP?! that happens in WASHINGTON?! the SLOWEST state EVER?! I got pictures to evidence it don't you worry!

Anywho - we made the trip in and immediately found ourselves breakfast at the nearby bar and grill...along with Mimosas to celebrate!

It was a huge accomplishment! Not only to get mom up to Seattle...but I realized during the trip that I have now driven the entire west coast...from the Mexico border to the Canadian Border! Pretty awesome if you ask me! But cheers to new adventures to come! So glad to have you with us mom! I love you and am so glad we made the trip together!

 

I'm ready to get this show on the ROAD!

Goofy times again...go figure

First views of her new city!

Welcome to Seattle!

Mom was camera shy at the end of the trip....but CHEERS!

And me...I'm the ham...SMILE and CHEERS!