Mike and Vicki Head West

Konnichiwa!

2011-04-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

Just returned from an incredible vacation in Japan!

Here's a link to our photo album.

Weekend Trip

2011-03-18T22:03:00.003-07:00

We had a whirlwind trip back east to visit family.

First, we got to meet our new niece, Evie.

And then it was down to Oakland for Roby's 60th birthday party!

We even managed to work in a tree planting in honor of my grandmother for her work at her local library.

And of course, it wouldn't be Oakland without music.

Christmas?

2011-03-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

Yep, I am just that far behind.

If I had gotten my act together enough to send out Christmas cards this year - this is what you would have gotten.

We went to see this amazing light display at a Botanical Garden. It was less Christmasy than I was expecting. They had made tons and tons of plants and landscapes out of lights. It was pretty amazing.

Also for Christmas, we had a family portrait done by a local pet photographer.

Nutritional Update

2011-03-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

I got some good news recently that I thought I'd pass along. I've been struggling for a while with getting enough nutrients - probably because food usually goes through me so quickly. Anyway, in order to have enough calcium in my blood for basic functioning, my body was having to steal it from my bones. This is what your body is supposed to do on the short term so that your muscles and everything keep working, but not such good thing chronically as I don't want osteoporosis before I'm 40. Well, I just got the latest round of blood work back and my bones are no longer dissolving! Hurray! On the flip side, I'm now anemic - but that is much less serious. Everything else is good, so I'm pretty happy.

TGFI

2011-03-03T21:36:00.000-08:00

No, that's not a typo - it stands for Thank God For Imodium!

I think I mentioned a while back and I had to stop using Imodium because I developed some sort of sensitivity to it where I would get awful pains that made the lack of diarrhea hard to enjoy. Well, I went almost 2 years without taking any and decided to give it another try. I seem to be handling it ok now. I'm very leery of developing issues with it again so I'm careful to not overuse it. It is a fabulous tool though and it has helped a lot with traveling.

Here is an overview of the travels we've been able to do:

We took a road trip out to Glacier National Park. The drive out was about as interesting as the park itself. Back in ice age times, the glaciers in that area formed an ice dam, blocking rivers, and forming a lake over much of the western part of what is now Montana. Periodically, the pressure would build up to the point where the ice dam would burst and the water would all drain out of the lake. The sudden release of water flooded all of eastern Washington and down into Oregon. There are huge gouges in the land and ripple marks so large they just look like rolling hills.

In the fall, we went to western NC to see Mike's family and some old friends.

We also went down to Oregon for a very cold Muddy Buddy race.

All in all - it was a good fall.

Happy Birthday Max!

2010-10-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

Max is two years old today!

Not that Max is a "big" dog, but it is hard to believe that he once fit in my hand.

We had a birthday party at a dog park with his friends. He got lots of toys.

This toy makes a weird noise. I think it is funny how he waits until it is done to pick it up.

He finally wore himself out with all the fun.

Butch's Visit

2010-09-05T08:51:00.001-07:00

Max's sister Butch stayed with us for a few days.

(Pics are at the end of the current Max album.)

There was something in our hall closet that she didn't like. We aren't sure what it was, but it must have been bad.

We went to a dog show while she was here.

They weren't in the show, but we did have a few people ask who our breeder was. Just sayin'

The agility competitions were our favorite part.

Roby's visit

2010-09-05T02:09:00.000-07:00

My mom came for a visit last month. Pictures are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/vickirwilliams/RobySVisit#

While she was here, we went to the international kite festival in Long Beach, WA.

Max LOVED the beach.

Hurray for pants!!!

2010-09-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

I put off writing about this for a while due to a general bad attitude on my part that I didn't feel like sharing.

Earlier this summer, I got appendicitis and so had my appendix taken out. Apparently they caught it just in time (not burst but starting to ooze) which is crazy since I went into the OR about 15 hours from the onset of pain. As surgeries go, this is quite minor and I have had no complications - a pleasant change for me. It has re-upset my intestines making all those issues a little worse, but I have been able to mostly correct that by upping my meds.

An appendectomy truly isn't that big of a deal. My bad attitude was about the simple fact that I was in the ER again, having surgery AGAIN. We were joking with the surgeon beforehand about other surgeries he could go ahead and get over with while I was there. I now have a full dozen incisions on my stomach. I'm like a human pin cushion. I just feel a bit like when I start to feel like I'm making real progress, the rug gets pulled out from under me. It's frustrating.

At this point, I think I'm back to a more positive attitude in general. The only thing that has been a lingering annoyance is an inability to wear pants. A couple of the incisions are around my waist and would get sore from waistbands. I've been able to wear some stretchy sweatpants for a couple of weeks now with minimal discomfort. But in just the past few days, I've been able to wear normal pants. I'm very happy about this. I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, and I know that I'm awfully cute in dresses and all, but sometimes it really is a pain to not be able to wear pants.

The ball

2010-05-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

A boston friend of Max's has this big ball. She can't get a hold on it so she just chases it around the house for hours on end. When I saw a big ball for only $1.50 I thought- hey, it's worth a try!

He's totally fed up now and won't touch it.

By the way- I made a new album for the more recent Max pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/vickirwilliams/MaxwellSmart#

I just realized that all of the pics in this album feature his favorite toy - triceratops. There have been two triceratops so far. They don't last long.

Isn't it cute though?

Why "News" annoys me

2010-05-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

Just heard about this: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/science.1190719

Published yesterday. It's totally not in my field, but I still feel comfortable saying that this is the most significant news of the day.

I wanted to hear more about the responses to this so I went to cnn.com
Front page, top news stories - nothing.

Ok, I get it. I'm a nerd. I care more about nerdy things than the average person. Fine. I'll go to the science and technology section.

Nothing.

Though, apparently, facebook can predict who you will date next. Talk about ground breaking research!

To be fair - there is a link to this http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1990836,00.html in the health section.

Oh, and thanks TED! http://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life.html

Brandi (a.k.a. The Surprise Date Night)

2010-05-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

A month ago I mentioned an upcoming surprise date night that I was going to try to get Michael to blog about. As that hasn't happened, I thought I would go ahead and explain.

I got us tickets to see Brandi Carlile at the Crocodile Cafe (The Croc). I think the show sold out in a couple of hours and it is a total fluke that I was online and noticed it in that window. The Croc is a small, but famous, venue and happens to be the first gig Brandi got in Seattle. She played from XOBC, but it was mostly a requests show. Very fun. We were center stage, fourth row back. (Is it a row if it is standing room only?) It was awesome. I never thought we would get to see her in a venue that small. I mean - the girl sold out the symphony hall in a matter of minutes. (I'm not exaggerating, though that doesn't count that symphony patrons had an early crack at the tickets.)

Here are pics from a photographer that was standing next to me in the crowd.

Surprisingly enough - one of my favorite moments from the evening was sans Brandi. The twins did a duet of The Sound of Silence. There was a humorous quality to it since it was clearly not planned and they struggled to remember the words. But, mostly it was hauntingly beautiful. Their voices are so similar (They are twins after all) that it was like listening to someone sing a duet with themselves.

Anyway- I know most of you aren't as nuts about Brandi as I am and so you probably don't care about this. But, really a blog is half diary and I just wanted to write this special night down.

Kate's Wedding

2010-04-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was my cousin Kate's wedding. It was so beautiful. Anyone not in my family will probably not be all that interested in my poor quality videos, but the pictures are good.

I shot in segments because I wasn't sure what length video my camera would take. Sorry for the poor quality and shaky hands. (For some reason, water kept getting in my eyes.)

New Albums

2010-04-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/vickirwilliams/TulipFields

http://picasaweb.google.com/vickirwilliams/MaxwellSmart#
(Old Max album at http://picasaweb.google.com/vickirwilliams/MaxwellSmart200809)

Shaun the Sheep

2010-04-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

I recently got Max a tuffies sheep because he loves stuffed toys and because the tuffies toys actually tend to last a while.

This photo is actually of Max's girlfriend, Maddie, chewing on Shaun's ear. You won't see a picture of Max like this. That isn't to say that he hasn't chewed on Shaun's ear. At first, he liked Shaun quite a bit. Then, Michael started humping Max with Shaun and chasing him around the apartment with Shaun and tying a leash to Shaun so he could animate him. Now, Max is afraid of Shaun. Very afraid...

Bad Dog

2010-04-05T14:01:00.001-07:00

A while ago (yes, I'm behind on blogging again...) I was getting a stack of stuff together to take to good will. With this was going to be some of Max's on clothes that don't fit him anymore. Well, he decided that since they were HIS clothes, that it would be ok for him to topple over the pile of goodwill stuff, pull out his clothes (and maybe a plastic hanger) and chew on them a while. The yellow thing in the photo above WAS a rain jacket.

Does he look guilt ridden?

Yeah, I didn't think so either.

PHC + BC = Bliss

2010-04-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to the live taping / performance of Prairie Home Companion. If you missed it, you can listen to the show here: http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2010/04/03/

It was a great show, as always. And it is always fun to hear Garrison's take on your hometown. It was also interesting, having been with him Thursday night - to see how many topics of conversation made it into the show. I wonder how last minute his sketch writing is! For example, in the first show they did here (http://origin-prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2010/03/27/) the weekend before, he brought up Seattle manners. Well, Thursday night the audience got into a dialog with him about the subject and a woman mentioned how after moving from NYC, she had a hard time not jumping in an answering people once she understood what they were asking. Well, what do you know, two days later he's up on stage performing a skit about someone moving from NYC and needing to learn not to interrupt people.

They were in town for two weekends and we sort of arbitrarily got tickets to the second show. Later, the line-ups came out and our most favorite musical artist, Brandi Carlile (local, but you should still consider yourself uncultured if you don't know who she is), was going to be playing the first show. I was distraught. We had gotten tickets to the WRONG show! Well, turns out Garrison was quite taken with her and decided they needed to have her back on the show. So, they added in an encore performance at the last minute and we got to see her after all! Hurray! What a great surprise.

Now, how many of you guys noticed that they last post was by Michael? Wasn't it great to hear from him? Shouldn't he post more? I'm taking him out for a surprise date night tomorrow night. (Surprise = what we are doing, not the existence of the date night.) Maybe I can get him to blog about that...

An Evening with Tom and Garrison

2010-04-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite radio shows is in Seattle this weekend: A Prairie Home Companion, which broadcasts Saturdays on NPR. The local station arranged a fund raiser Thursday evening which was to include an informal question-and-answer session with the show's host, Garrison Keillor, and local celebrity chef Tom Douglas. We found out about this early and managed to get tickets. Tom was bringing the wine and hors d'oeuvres...sign us up!

It was a great evening. The event was much smaller than we had expected, there couldn't have been more than 150 people there. There were drinks and bites for about a half hour, and Garrison and Tom were milling around and chatting with the attendees. Vicki and I didn't strike up conversations, but had we had fun watching some of the others snapping pictures and asking for autographs. We caught a glance of Garrison holding out some lady's disposable camera to take a picture of the two of them together. The food, of course, was incredible.

When the questions and answers started, Garrison naturally took the mic and started quizzing Tom about his career and about northwest cuisine. Turns out when Tom is interviewing a new chef for a job, one of his questions is, "what would you prepare for a date night if you wanted to get lucky?" Garrison's answer was "nothing, I'd rather she be hungry."

The questions from the audience ranged from the insightful ("How much of the Prairie Home Companion sketches are scripted, and how much is improvisation?") to the outright absurd ("What do the two of you think about global warming?") We learned that Tom's favorite thing to cook is crab cakes, and Garrison's is sweet corn fresh from the garden (2 minutes to the pot, max). Tom started his career in Seattle because as a young chef he was on a cross-country road trip and this is where his car broke down. Garrison once lived in Copenhagen and finds it difficult to carry on small-talk in Danish.

Tomorrow we're going to the live weekly performance! We did this once before in Charlottesville and it was a lot of fun.

Winter Adventures

2010-02-09T06:26:00.000-08:00

While all our friends back east are snowed in, I thought I would share what we did this weekend. With clear, blue skies and 60 degree weather; we decided to drive up to green lake on the north side of town.

Max loves going for drives in the car.

Green Lake is a great place to meet other dogs.

Max also is able to engage in his favorite activity, peeing on the world.

Two cute boys...

Now, I know what you are all thinking: Those poor, poor people - missing out on all the fun we are having in the snow. Well, rest assured, all we have to do is drive 45 min. up into the mountains and we can have all the snow we want.

But remember, don't move here because... um... wait - what is it we are supposed to tell people so everyone doesn't move here and make it over crowded? Oh! right! It rains all the time here. So don't move here. You would be totally miserable.

Overweight!

2010-02-08T12:15:00.001-08:00

Over a year out from surgery, I'm finally overweight. To most people, being overweight would be a bad thing. However, since I started out level 3 obese (there is no level 4), I'm pretty happy about it.

Having crossed this milestone, it seemed time to pull out the old pants for a photo shoot.

Merry (Belated) Christmas

2010-01-04T21:18:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Williamses!!

By the way - if you didn't get a card from us - it probably means I don't have your address. Let me know if you'd like to remedy that situation.

(A note on the new short hair cut: I haven't decided if I really like it, but it was seriously necessary. And didn't Michael do a good job? Most of my hair fell out last year back before I started forcing myself to eat. It all started growing back at the same time so I have lots of hair that is a couple of inches long. It had gotten to the point where it was making these weird little wings that were sticking out all over my head. They are still there, but with the old hair being short now, it is a lot poofier all around making the wings look less odd.)

For Christmas this year I resurrected a holiday tradition from my childhood: faux gingerbread houses. (I use graham crackers.)

My main house had its own dog house...

and a tree in the window.

I also made a gingerbread church...

with stained glass windows.

Michael made this:

I'm calling it "The house Willy Wonka threw up on."

Happy New Years!

Follow Me

2010-01-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

As I have been rather infrequent in blogging, I know a lot of you stopped checking in regularly. So, I just wanted to point out that if you use an RSS reader (like iGoogle) you can get blog updates automatically by clicking here. Since not everyone uses RSS readers, if you would like to get an email letting you know when there is a new post, let me know and I'll get a list going. I'm hoping I can stay a little more on top of things now that I'm starting to feel better.

Along those lines, if I owe you an email, don't take it personally. You are one of many much beloved people whose emails I ignored for a while because I was quite literally doing nothing on the computer. (The iPhone is great for bathroom email reading, but the touch screen is a serious pain if you are trying to write anything.) I'm much better about email now - but the backlog is going to take a while to get through.

Ongoing Health Issues

2010-01-02T17:41:00.000-08:00

This will be a Too-Much-Information post. Those of you who don't want to know the gorey details might want to skip on down to the next post.

It has been a while since I talked about all my bathroom issues so I thought I would fill everyone in since I'm sure this is a subject you are all just dying to hear more about.

Since I last wrote, there have been lots more tests done. Countless vials of blood and stool samples later - still no idea what's going on. So, the next step was to scope me. They did a colonoscopy and an upper GI endoscopy. The good news is that everything looks fine. The bad news - still no idea what's going on. Interesting side note (and anyone who's had a colonoscopy should appreciate this): Before a colonoscopy, you have to drink this stuff to clean you out. I had heard from people who had had this that the diarrhea is pretty bad. I was really dreading that because I have diarrhea on a good day so I thought this was going to be insane. But, my body didn't react to it like it does to food so there wasn't an additive effect. It was actually WAY better than what I was used to. My doctor said I was the first patient he'd ever had to be happy with the effects of colon prep.

Anyway, since we still don't know what's going on, I officially have irritable bowel syndrome. I really hate this diagnosis on many levels. First of all, a syndrome isn't much of a diagnosis. It is just a collection of observed unexplained symptoms. It means they don't know what is causing it. IBS in particular is even more meaningless as a diagnosis because almost any physical problem down to just being stressed can cause intestinal issues. So unlike say, restless leg syndrome where they don't know what's going on, but it is odd enough that it is most likely the same (albeit unknown) root cause for everyone who has it -- there are no doubt a myriad of root causes among those diagnosed with IBS. Basically, I went to a doctor saying that I had cramps and diarrhea and was told that I had cramps and diarrhea. Lastly, I feel like we sort of do know a cause (the surgery) even though we don't understand how that resulted the mad diarrhea.

That said, Mike found a paper on IBS that sounds a lot like me. They did this study where they measured the gastrointestinal reflect in IBS patients and controls. Normally, when food hits your stomach (and before it gets to your intestines), your intestines start their calm, controlled peristalsis motions which push everything along. In some IBS patients, this normal response was amplified such that their intestines just went crazy. The contractions were stronger and more erratic that normal. Again, still no idea why - but boy does that sound familiar. In fact (and I apologize for the mental image here) I have seen food come out of me less than an hour after eating. At speeds like that - no wonder the process hurts.

The good news is that I am doing better. First of all, as a rule of thumb, I get better as the day goes on. I usually only get really sick after breakfast. After lunch is much better and I'm often fine with dinner. Also, we are trying to manage the symptoms even though we don't know the cause. So, I'm trying different drugs aimed at dampening the muscle or nerve responses along my GI tract. Some have done nothing, some have helped, but we are still looking for that silver bullet that will make things totally better. Realistically, that may never come - but I am still happy to report significant improvement. There is still a lot of variability from day to day - but that variability now includes occasional days where I'm totally fine. I have even had a few solid bowel movements. (Hurray!) And, these days, a really bad day is like a normal day used to be.

A few other random points - I ended up developing a sensitivity to Imodium. I tried really hard not to over use it, but I guess I did. Anyway - it got to where it would make the cramps way WAY worse. As it was hard to enjoy the lack of diarrhea whilst doubled over, lying on the floor in the fetal position - I stopped using it. After going without for about six months, I've started experimenting with using it again in very small doses. The sensitivity seems to have gone away. I'm hoping I can figure out a balance that will enable me to go camping next summer. I was so sad to not be able to go camping (or even hiking!) all last year. This would be a sad thing anywhere, but in the glorious pacific northwest - it is a tragedy.

We went back home for "Thanksmas" this year. (I highly recommend this as an alternative to getting caught in all the awful holiday traffic.) I had been really nervous that this trip - like so many other before it - would include an ER visit. It didn't! Yea! After a few more, I'm hoping I will feel safe traveling again. There are a lot of fun weekend trips we could do from here that I just haven't felt safe doing. (Who would have thought I would one day feel like I couldn't safely go to Canada?) And, I definitely need to feel safe spending the night in a hotel before I can think about camping in the woods.

Well, I think that should have everyone pretty well caught up. Hope all it well with you!

Cute Puppy Videos

2009-11-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

When Dennis and Cheri came to visit they brought toys, including a chicken that Max HATED. The sound seemed to freak him out and he wouldn't touch it. Then we got the idea to wrap it up in his towel (part of his bedding and sometimes a toy in its own right.) The towel HAD to be rescued from the demon chicken.

For Max's birthday, Dennis and Cheri sent more toys.

Max's new magic trick is thanks to his girlfriend's mom, Brandi.

Whale Watching

2009-11-17T19:11:00.000-08:00

Mike's family came out for a visit over the summer. (Yes, I am THAT far behind on blogging) For the most part I chilled at home while they did their thing, but I was not about to miss out on this. So, I relied on my good friend anorexia to keep me continent and joined them for an awesome day on the Salish Sea.

Of course, there are lots of pictures and you can also check out the tour blog.

One of the whales really put on a show for us. I was taking stills, but Cheri got a really great video of it.

Pictures!

2009-11-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

Several albums have been updated including Maxwell Smart

The following picture is in the Mommy and Max album, but I thought you guys might like to see the subsequent pics.

There is also a new album for our Columbia River Trip. This is from the one overnight trip this year that didn't result in an ER visit!

Gallbladder surgery or Why I don't travel

2009-09-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a while since I posted anything so I figured I start with the big "news." (Is it news if it happened 2 months ago?)

I had to have my gallbladder taken out. We tried to take a weekend trip to Wenatchee, WA which is on the other side of the cascades. Trips seem to be a bad thing for me. In the past 7 months, I've taken 3 overnight trips. Two have ended up involving an ER visit. Looked at another way, in the past 7 months I've had 3 ER visits, 2 of which involved an over night trip. I don't really see why sleeping somewhere else should be too much stress for my body to take, but apparently I am just that fragile.

Anyway, gallbladder issues are common with rapid weight loss. I was on some medication to lower my risk, but my risk was probably a bit higher than even the average weight loss surgery patient because of all the food issues I've had. So, while we were in Wenatchee I had a gallbladder attack and we decided to rush back to Seattle (~3 hr drive). We didn't know what was going on but figured it would be best to be seen in the hospital that knew the most about me. Michael dropped me off at the hospital before taking puppy home. I actually lucked out in that the surgeon on call does gastric bypasses so he was very familiar with my situation and now I no longer have a gallbladder. This isn't really a big deal. It means I won't digest fat as well which can lead to diarrhea, but with the issues I have already it is sort of a drop in the ocean.

I did have a few surgery side effects. First of all - apparently they were worried I had hepatitis. I'm not sure who heard what, so I just wanted to go on record as saying that my liver is fine. It was just mad because it got banged around during the surgery. (The gallbladder sits right up against the liver.) There is no damage. The other issue is this weird pain that I had. There was this line going from my belly button (where they pulled the gallbladder out) diagonally down to the front of my left hip. There was this divot in my skin that looked like it had been pulled too tight and along the line the skin was numb. At either end of the line - there was pain. It was actually more painful than any of the incisions. Everyone was confused by this on two counts. (I used to enjoy thinking of myself as unusual and interesting, but it gets old when you are unusual and interesting medically.) First of all - the gallbladder is in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen and the pain was on the exact opposite side of where they were working. Secondly - what I just described (numbness combined with pain and a seizing up a tissue) sounds a lot like nerve issues. But, in that part of your body, nerves don't run diagonally. So, for about a month it hurt to do just about anything including just having something touch my belly there. I went around all the time in sweatpants that were 5 sizes too big. Then all of a sudden - the pain was gone. Not coincidentally (I think) a month out from surgery is about when you would expect the dissoluble sutures to let go. My theory is that something got pulled too tight when they sewed me up. None of the doctors (including Michael) put much stock in this theory, but I like it.

Well, that concludes the story of the ill-fated gallbladder. I have more posts planned and hopefully it won't take another three months for me to get around to them. But, now I'm on my way to meet my GI doc to see what he has to say about my other issues.

Health Update: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2009-04-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

Quite a few of you have expressed concern over my current state of health - so I thought an update was in order.

The Good:
As we get farther and farther away from my partial bowel obstruction with no similar problems, it is rather unlikely that I will need a follow up surgery to deal with an obstruction.
I don't have sleep apnea anymore, so that's great.
I had some hormonal issues that put me at risk for diabetes and they are correcting themselves.
My doctors are happy with my muscle tone. Also, b12 and iron levels are fine. (These are the two most common deficiencies with gastric bypass.) So, I can only be but so malnourished.
While I do have issues, they are getting better as well, so on the whole I feel really good about how things are going.

The Bad:
I just had my second ER visit. We are currently in NC visiting my god-parents. We flew into C'ville and were able to catch up with a few people over the weekend, but it would appear that I over did it. It was hot and I wasn't as careful as I should have been. I've been flirting with dehydration for a while (more on that later) and I crossed a line. I got a kidney stone and my potassium levels were really low. I recovered quickly, which is good. I had hoped, however, that my previous ER visit would be my last. And, it was rather disconcerting to strike out for an ER in the middle of the night in a town that isn't your own. Luckily, Michael did a rotation in this area while he was in med school, so he knew where to go. I'm still working on the kidney stone, but hopefully it will work its way out soon.

The Ugly:
This is the TMI section of this post - so if you don't want the gorey details - you may want to stop reading here.

The big problem that I have now is that I get sick whenever I eat. I get cramps, diarrhea and sometimes, I throw up. When this first started, I thought I had a stomach flu but it has been a couple of months now and I'm still dealing with it. I'm tried food experiments (like cutting out dairy) but I can't find particular foods that are and are not problematic. What I eat doesn't seem to mater - just the fact that I have eaten. As not fun as all this is, the real problem is that all the diarrhea is leaving me dehydrated. I'm drinking as much as I'm supposed to, but I can tell from how I feel that it isn't enough. I'm also not eating enough (so I'm losing some muscle mass due to protein deficiency) and I recently tried to add in an extra meal, but the extra diarrhea got me notably dehydrated so I had to drop that idea.

At first, I could eat breakfast and I would be sick all day (without eating anything else) and into the night. Now, I'm down to only a few hours of being sick. This is a very significant improvement. For one, now I eat breakfast and by the time I need to eat lunch - I'm no longer feeling sick. As you can imagine, this makes it much easier to make myself eat. Also, I have this little break between meals where I'm ok and can get things done. For a long time, I'm just been spending all day in the bathroom. Now, I can emerge from the bathroom and I have a little time to do some ironing - or write a blog post - before I eat lunch and make myself sick again. This little break has been a huge sanity boost and I look forward to it getting longer. I also have learned a couple of ways to control it. For one - I can just not eat. Now, obviously, I can't do this much (as tempting as it is) but used judiciously it can enable things like flying back to the east coast. I also respond to Imodium. More than getting rid of the issues, it more slows them down. The diarrhea isn't as crazy, the cramps aren't as bad, but food seems to stay in my stomach longer making it more likely that I'll throw up. And, if I take too much I become very nauseated. I also don't want my body to adjust to a constant presence of Imodium. In general, I use it just once a week - but I can make exceptions for special occasions like my cousin Emily's visit.

Well, that's about it. I hope you all are doing well.

Our Amazing View

2009-03-11T18:12:00.001-07:00

It is so hard to not just post pictures of the view from our apartment all the time. I mean, it seems sort of boring and lame. But, it is just so amazing that sometimes I can't help myself.

We're getting new couches!

2009-03-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so not this couch. But isn't it great?

Odds and Ends

2009-03-04T23:22:00.001-08:00

If you have been to Maxwell Smart's photo album, you know that he recently went to a family reunion. I thought you guys might also like to see a video from the day.

I've added a couple of new things to the blog. First of all- I put a link to my friend Sarah's weight loss surgery blog on the links list to the right. I also added a weight loss tracker at the bottom for any who are interested in following that saga. And, I'll go ahead and say that the goal of loosing 150lbs is pretty close to arbitrary. It is a nice round number. The last time I was at a weight that would be "normal" for me now - I was in elementary school. I have no concept of what a good normal weight is for me as an adult.

With my last post, I realize that I may have come off as not wanting to talk about my surgery, which isn't really true. It is just that it feels weird somehow to bring it up randomly. I've never walked into a room and said, "Guess what everybody! I'm on a diet!" It isn't that I wouldn't want anyone to know that I'm on a diet or not want to talk about it. I just wouldn't bring it up. Now, I know that major surgery is something that people tend to make a point of mentioning to their friends - but in my head, I'm thinking of it like a diet.

One last thing: I've set up a new photo album called Mommy and Max that will have regular photos of me and Max. The idea is that over time you will be able to see me get smaller and Max get bigger. At this point, I don't think either effect is noticeable, but at some point I'm sure it will be.

The Secret

2009-03-03T10:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it isn't really a secret - I just haven't really made a point of telling people. I think I want to believe that it isn't really a big deal- not worth mentioning. But, I figured it was about time I go ahead and bite the bullet and let the word out.

I had a gastric bypass surgery. For the anatomically curious among you, this is what my insides now look like. There has been a minor complication with a partial bowel obstruction. We are hoping that it is clearing up on its own and in the mean time I'm struggling to find things that I can comfortably eat. I still feel good about my decision. It is important to me to be healthy and I know that these current issues are nothing compared to the long-term health benefits.

So there you have it. Now everybody knows.

New Years!

2009-03-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

Ok, yes I know - it has been a long time since New Years. But I thought you might still like to see the fireworks. We had some people over and watched the show from our apartment.

While I'm playing catch-up - there are updates to a couple of the photo albums.
Around the Sound
Maxwell Smart

Jump for Joy!

2008-12-25T07:56:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas!

Max's new best friend / Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T08:54:00.000-08:00

We had some friends come over for dinner last night. One of the couples brought their 4 month old golden retriever, Lucia. She and Max really hit it off. She was very gentle with him and mostly laid down to play with him to compensate for being so much bigger.

They were not, however, so gentle with the potty papers...

Max is sleeping so well today. This is the most peace I've had since we got him!

I have uploaded the pics from our Thanksgiving visit with my family to an album. Also, the following video is a squirrel that Sarah made friends with.

Brandi Carlile and Maxwell Smart

2008-12-01T14:40:00.000-08:00

The big news is that Max is home. There are a few more pics in his photo album and here are some videos. He is a very sweet boy and is adjusting well to his new home.

In watching these videos, I realized that we whisper while filming. I'm not sure why...

The reindeer was a parting present from Judy, the breeder.

In other news, Saturday night we got to see Brandi Carlile perform with the Seattle symphony. It was just amazing. Part of it was just her and the Hanseroth twins and they did one song with no amplification. Now, keep in mind - this was in Beneroya Hall which seats about 25oo people. We were in the back (the concert sold out almost immediately). It was so amazing to hear them with no electrons in between her and my ears- and talk about lungs! The orchestral arrangements for her songs were fabulous and the encore was Cohen's Hallelujah which I LOVE. Words just can't describe how amazing it was to hear her belting out Hallelujahes with the symphony backing her up. The good news for all you people that missed out on this amazing concert - it was recorded. When it comes out on CD you should all rush, rush, rush out and buy it because not only was Brandi amazing, but you will also get to hear me. Yes, that's right - it was also my debut. You see, she had the audience sing along on part of a song and I'm sure you will be able to pick my voice out.

Mama, Christy and her friend Sarah came out for Thanksgiving. It was great to see them. I'll post some pics from that soon. I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving.

Third visit with Max

2008-11-17T09:31:00.000-08:00

I added a few more pics to the Maxwell album from our visit yesterday. It is amazing how quickly they are growing.

Here are a couple of the videos we shot. A little warning - the first one is a bit long (and chaotic)...

Also- there are more pictures on the breeder's website and she moved the photos for this liter to their own page: http://www.brooksburntridgebostonterriers.com/Jazzysfinallitter.html

Window boy, the sequel

2008-11-17T09:11:00.000-08:00

Michael says I have no shame.

Sit. Stay. Good dog!

2008-11-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

How cute is that? Max is second from the right.

(Pic. from Judy, the breeder.)

So fun...

2008-11-05T09:56:00.001-08:00

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1543292903/bctid1898319071

I just love living in a big city.

Obama!!!

2008-11-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

When the AP called the election - this roar went up outside. I could hear people yelling and screaming - it was crazy. Then, at the end of his acceptance speech - everyone was hoarse by this time- but there was lots of horn honking. I'd say it is great to finally be living in a blue state - but the good ol' Commonwealth of VA went blue this time around. And, as I'm writing - NC is too close to call so who knows. Who would have thought?

On completely unrelated news, as I've mentioned before - we are a tad bitter about the building that has sprung up to block our view of Lake Union and Mt. Baker. But, they are putting the windows in now and they just made it up to the level where the sunset is getting reflected. I'd still rather be seeing the sailboats out on the lake - but this isn't all bad.

Lots of Pictures!

2008-11-03T17:16:00.000-08:00

Since this page is becoming a bit slow to load - I'm adding pictures to albums instead.

Here are pics from a church retreat on Mt. Baker: http://picasaweb.google.com/vickirwilliams/ChurchRetreat

Random pics around the area with amazing fall colors:
http://picasaweb.google.com/vickirwilliams/AroundTheSound

And last but not least - we've been to see Max, our new puppy a couple of times. Here are some pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/vickirwilliams/MaxwellSmart

Also, since Max's mom, Jazmin, had some calcium deficiency issues, the puppies are on formula now which means we got to feed him.

The breeder has updated her pictures as well, so if you follow the link below you will see new pictures.

He's here!

2008-10-04T15:29:00.000-07:00

Our new puppy was born October 1st!

Here are more pictures of them. We are planning to adopt one of the boys, but we don't know which one yet.
http://www.brooksburntridgebostonterriers.com/BostonTerriersAvailable.html

More Camping

2008-09-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Michael and I went camping. Back in VA, Mike used to go camping with his friend Brad. They liked to load everything on their packs and march off into the woods. I, however, prefer drive-up camping. Since we weren't going to have to carry it far, we decided to get a new, large-enough-for-an-air-mattress tent. Isn't it cute?

The ground was spongy with moss and erupting in mushrooms.

Our campground was here on Horseshoe Cove on Baker Lake, at the foot of Mt. Baker. There are snow capped mountains behind those clouds, but you will just have to take my word for it.

The forecast was for rain and the sky looked like it was going to keep that promise. So, we decided it was a good day to jump in the car, head east, and check out North Cascades National Park.

Be careful Michael!

Highway 20 winds through North Cascades National Park. Along the way is a series of dams and lakes.

We left the lakes and headed up into the clouds.

We saw lots of little waterfalls.

When we got to the highest elevations and got out of the clouds, the plants changed to all evergreens with low scrubby bushes ablaze in fall colors.

This is Washington Pass.

Don't Look Down!

This is Liberty Bell Mountain.

Once we got to the east side of the mountains, we were in the "rain shadow." It was so interesting how much more arid it looked.

We ended our eastward drive in this funny little "Old West" town called Winthrop.

After Winthrop, we headed back to our campsite where it was nice and wet. Michael was able to get a fire going and we were glad for our nice waterproof tent.

A few other trip highlights:

I had a talk with this squirrel. His name is Douglas.

Michael really hates to have his picture taken.

Poor Michael.

Follow-up Pictures

2008-09-18T16:40:00.001-07:00

Here is another picture of cousin Harrison. So sweet...

This is another picture of Jazmin and Jasper - our puppy's mommy and daddy.

I saw this the other day out our window. I have no idea what it was about. I understand that there are fire boats - but I see anything on the receiving end so I don't think that's what it is. Any ideas?

With all the pretty pictures I have been posting - I thought a bit of balance might be in order. Sometimes, it looks like this:

What happened to the top of the needle?

Spring on The Mountain

2008-09-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

For those of you not familiar with the lingo - "The Mountain" is Mt. Rainier. On a clear day, it's where you want to be.

This is Paradise. Really. That's what they named it.

What with all the glaciers and the mile high elevation here at Paradise, it is late summer before it is warm enough for "spring" blooms.

Doesn't this moss look cool?

This is the Nisqually glacier. Rainier is the most heavily glaciated mountain in the lower 48.

This is the view across Reflection Lake.

You can see Mt. Adams from Rainier. (Other Mountains too - but we didn't make it to all the lookouts.)

Puppies!

2008-09-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

How cute are they?!?!

Michael and I have decided that we need a Boston Terrier puppy so we found a breeder that we like and went to visit yesterday.

This is our puppy's mommy, Jazmin. She's pregnant and due Oct. 5th - but we're hoping for the 6th since that is Michael's birthday.

This is our puppy's daddy, Jasper. They grew up together (not related of course) and have had a couple of litters together already. We are told that he is a very sweet daddy and helps to take care of the babies.

Yea for puppies!

Home of the Huskies

2008-09-12T22:26:00.000-07:00

We went for a walk around campus last weekend. The most amazing thing about the Univeristy of Washington campus has to be Rainier Vista.

The campus itself was beautiful too though - lots of interesting architecture.

This building has all these decorative figures around the top. I'm calling them gargoyles - but I'm pretty sure that isn't technically the correct term since I don't think they are connected to the gutters.

I went a little nuts over the gargoyle things.

This is a Monkey Puzzle Tree.

This is the quad.

There was some sort of circus practice going on there.

Well, that's my tour of UW and I think we are caught up on blogging! Just in time too since my camera was full. It's all empty now, which is good because tomorrow I get to go play with puppies!!!

Fo' Shilshole

2008-09-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day we went up to Shilshole Bay. These kids were playing in the sand where a little stream made its way to the sound. Doesn't that look like fun? I'm going to have to go back with a shovel.

The ducks were hanging out in a larger feeder stream.

Church camping trip

2008-09-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

We went camping with some folks from our new church. (University Presbyterian) The campsite was in the Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest.

This is where we set up camp - amazing huh?

We took a hike up to Heather Lake. When you get to the top, the trail opens out onto this clear lake and across the way is what I think qualifies as a glacier with all these waterfalls flowing into it. I can't even begin to describe how incredible it was.

Michael doesn't like to have his picture taken.

Harrison!!

2008-09-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

My cousin Meris just had her baby. Isn't he just too cute?!

In this one he's thinking "mmm... dinner..."

Great Towns

2008-09-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

Our state has some great town names. Here are a few selections:

Acme
Battle Ground
Beaux Arts Village
Bickleton
Concrete
Dollar Corner
Electric City
Enumclaw
Gold Bar
Greenwater
Humptulips
Index
Klickitat
La Push
Medical Lake
Minnehaha
Mossyrock
Nooksack
Oysterville
Puyallup
Starbuck
Startup
Sudden Valley
Town and Country
Tumwater
Vader
Walla Walla

And my own personal favorite:

George, Washington.

Phantom!!

2008-09-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to see Phantom of the Opera. Our seats were second row center. Amazing! When the chandelier came down we were right under it. (Hope that doesn't spoil the story for any of you who haven't seen it...) We got our tickets through our apartment building. They said if we went through them we would get premium seats and they weren't kidding.

Random

2008-09-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

There are tons of beggars here. It is sort of hard to get used to. I normally go around smiling at people that I pass, but that seems to encourage them. It is also my natural tendency to stop when someone asks for help, but they always just want money and I'm not going to hand out money so that just makes it feel worse. I haven't really figured out how to deal with this, but I don't want to not smile at people or become so hardened that I don't hear someone ask for help. I will say though - so far my favorite pan-handler sign is "Broke Ninja. Please help." And that guy was totally chill. Just hanging out with his sign.

Here are a couple of pics of some of the amazing sunsets we are getting from our apartment.

Wow! Has it really been over a month?

2008-09-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, Ok - I'll post!

Here are pictures that Michael should have posted. He took these hiking with some friends recently.

This is Mt. Rainier from Mt. Pilchuck. I had to mess with the color a bit to make The Mountain show up and it is still barely there. It always get washed out in pictures for some reason.

This is Hester Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

More to come!

Bed Sheets!

2008-07-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

News update!

They found footage of the shoplifter guy jumping in a dumpster out back and of the Bartel security guard running right past it. While everyone was banging around in our building, he had plenty of time to get away - though he did leave a bag which our maintenance guys retrieved. The big haul? You guessed it! Two bed sheets. I guess he needed sheets.

Local News Coverage

2008-07-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

A couple of news items:

First of all, it has been an exciting day here. I was going to the mail room to pick up our mail when I spotted this big hole in the ceiling of our lobby with broken sheetrock hanging down. Turns out, someone was in the crawl space over the lobby, stepped in the wrong spot, and broke through the ceiling! Once of the ladies working in the office called the police and they came right over. The police, along with our maintenance crew and a couple of flashlights that I donated to the cause, spent an hour looking for the guy up there and couldn't find him. The police figured it was this shoplifter they were looking for that had just robbed the Bartel's (drug store). They were concerned that he had gotten away, so they reviewed our security footage. They saw the clip of him busting through the floor, and were able to confirm that he had pulled himself back up into the space while the office lady was calling the police. (There had been concern that he had gotten out while she went for the phone.) They also looked at the footage from the loading dock (the only way in), from the time the ceiling got busted and didn't see him leave that way. So, for a while they were SURE that he was still up there. Then, they looked a little farther back on the security footage and - what do you know - they didn't see him go either. What they did see was one of Bartel's security guards going in and coming out. (Presumably looking for the shoplifter.) The current theory is that it was the guard that busted through our ceiling.

The second bit of news is election coverage. I would just like to highlight the candidacy of Goodspaceguy Nelson. You can read more about his platform at http://colonizespace.blogspot.com/ I would highly recommend it. It is very... er... informative.

I'll keep you all posted if there are any updates!

Vancouver

2008-07-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

We got these fancy new driver's licenses that have RFID chips in them so that they function like passports for getting in and out of Canada. Cool huh? Of course we had to check them out, so we took a little trip up to Vancouver, BC last week.

Here are some pics from the border crossing.

This is from Granville Island in Vancouver. It is full of markets and art galleries. There are tons more pictures here: http://www.seegranvilleisland.com/

And these are from the Stanley Park Seawall.

The other important part of our trip was stopping in a little shop where we found clodhoppers! Clodhoppers are these glumps of little bits of graham cracker covered in fudge. Amazing. We discovered them on our honeymoon. It is a Canadian thing - though we could sporatically get them at the Blockbuster in Charlottesville. Random huh? Anyway - they have a new dark chocolate flavor. I'd tell you how great it is - but Michael is hogging them and I can't find the bag now. Everyone write him and tell him how mean he is.

Catching up

2008-07-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

Things have been a little crazy here so we are quite behind on the blogging. I was in VA/NC last week defending my thesis, and visiting friends and family.

Seattle is starting to feel a little like home now. While I was gone, Mike starting the laborious task of finding a church. Hopefully we will be able to start establishing a social network soon.

Anyway, let's get down to the fun part of blogging - pictures!

Here are some purchases for the new home:
Duvet:

A hanging pepper thingy:

Funky chairs and a little table to go between them that doubles as a file cabinet:

Notice how the building is now totally blocking our view? Yeah, so did we. I did get a shot of our lake union / mt. baker view before it disappeared.

Sad huh? We are trying to forget that it is there.

Here are some more pics from Mike's trip with his parents:

Here is a video I shot from our apartment on the 4th of July:

We're taking reservations for next year!

Whirlwind Tour

2008-07-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad Williams came to visit last week, which gave us an excuse to do some sight-seeing. With Vicki hard at work with her thesis, the folks and I spent most of the time out and about and giving her some needed peace and quiet. After a "scorching" weekend of highs in the 80s, the rest of the week was great with mostly clear skies and highs in the 70s.

We spent two days on the Olympic Peninsula, visiting the temperate rain forest and beaches. Even with mostly dry weather during the summer months, the wet climate was evident with lots of plant life and moss covering almost every surface. That area receives an average of 140 inches of rain per year! Contrast that with about 35 inches per year in Seattle and along most of the east coast.

We also visited Cape Flattery, which is the northwestern-most point in the contiguous U.S. As we were driving out there we were treated to a whale sighting a couple hundred yards out in the water! We also saw sea lions, a puffin, starfish, and 7 bald eagles.

The rest of the week was spent a little closer to home. We took the tour of the Boeing plant in Everett, WA where they build jumbo jets. We also visited the canal locks and watched boats big and small pass through. And of course no visit to Seattle would be complete without a trip up the Space Needle. We rode up to the top to take in the view, and Vicki and I made the sobering discovery that with a good pair of binoculars you can see right into our apartment! We'd better close those blinds!!

We had a great week, and Mom and Dad arrived safe and sound back in N.C. this afternoon. I'm looking forward to another couple weeks of exploring before I start work on July 28th.

Settling In

2008-06-27T16:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since our last entry, but we've been pretty busy! I arrived in town last Saturday after a week at the annual Endocrine Society meeting in San Francisco. Vicki and her mom got a good head start on unpacking, but there was still plenty to do. The past week has been a whirlwind of cardboard and trips to Target as we work to make our new apartment "home." Setting out our old familiar stuff has helped a lot. We don't have as much storage space here as we did in Charlottesville, so we've had to get creative in finding places to put our extras. (If any of you come to visit, don't look under the beds, okay?)

I think it is going to be a lot of fun living downtown. Most anything we need is a short walk away. Just this afternoon I walked down to Pike Place Market (about 10 minutes) and picked up some apples. How cool is that?

Western Washington is bracing for a record heat wave this weekend. Temperatures are supposed to get into the upper 80's! Oh, no! There was even a severe weather advisory on the Weather Channel. Vicki and I laugh about this--though most people here don't have air conditioning. Fortunately our building is one of the few that does. We'll beat the heat by staying indoors and gazing at the snow-covered Olympic mountains from our balcony.....

Whidbey Island

2008-06-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Roby and I went to Whidbey Island yesterday. It was the perfect day for it. The temperature there was about 60 degrees. The funny thing is, I keep hearing comments about how it has warmed up and "it's really summer now!" We stopped for coffee and the barista said, "I assume you'll want something cold; a milkshake?"

I just loved the cute little farms.

We saw several of these port-a-potties.

The name isn't too comforting.

Window Boy

2008-06-16T10:02:00.001-07:00

Well, it is another gorgeous day in Seattle! The high is supposed to get up to 70 today and the sky is clear as can be. The Olympic Mountains really popped out this morning with the sun hitting them.

We had a bit of excitement as they are washing the outside windows at the Metropolitan Tower today. Ropes dropped down an hour or so ago and just now a guy with big suction cup hands came down on a little swing and washed my windows. I'm guessing not everyone takes pictures of him, but he seemed to get a kick out of us. I went out on the balcony to talk to him and told him he would be on my blog. Even after he had dropped to our lower neighbors, he kept looking up and waving back at Mama. He will probably go home tonight and tell everyone about the crazy women he met.

City Lights

2008-06-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my night light.

I wonder how long it will take for this to seem like "home." Being in a high-rise, it feels much more like a hotel. A hotel without beds. I think I'm starting to get used to living in an empty apartment though. It will probably seem crowded when I finally have furniture.

My mother is flying in today to keep me company / help unpack. They are saying now that it will be Friday before our stuff arrives, so it looks like we will have lots of time to play.

Goodbye Old Home

2008-06-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

Today we flew out of Charlottesville. It has been wierd to live in an empty house for the past week, but leaving was even weirder. I'm glad that we have set plans to come back. If not, this would be a lot harder. We will miss you all!

Heat Wave

2008-06-11T07:01:00.001-07:00

Like most of the east coast this week, it has been sweltering here in Charlottesville. We have had a string of days with temperatures near 100 and heat indices of 110. Yuck! I must say we are ready for a break from the heat. Weather in the northwest is looking pretty good right about now.....

So Long, Stuff

2008-06-06T18:31:00.000-07:00

Today was moving day! The movers arrived early this morning in a HUGE full-size tractor trailer. It still amazes me that they were able to maneuver the thing down our little residential street. The crew consisted of two guys who made very quick work of emptying the house of all the nicely pre-packed boxes and the furniture.

When all was said and done, all of our stuff only filled a small fraction of the trailer. Overkill?? Apparently this truck will load up 7 households on the east coast before heading across to drop them off on the west coast.

And then there was the car. We didn't quite know how it was going to be shipped, perhaps on a flat-bed truck or a big car carrier. Nope, they drove it right into the moving truck!

So all of our stuff is now enroute and will arrive in Seattle between June 16th and 20th. In the meantime, our townhouse is completely bare--which is very weird. We have an air mattress (that packs into a carry-on bag), some things in the kitchen that will eventually get either thrown away or given to Goodwill, and bathroom toiletries that will also mostly get pitched. Anybody need some half-empty bottles of shampoo?

Buried Treasure

2008-06-06T11:06:00.001-07:00

Part of the fun of moving is going through all your stuff and discovering things you had forgotten all about. I found my old film camera that I hadn't touched since I got the digital - somewhere back in 2003. We got the film developed and it was like a little time capsule. The picture above is from a hike Michael and I went on. (Don't ask me where.) And then there was this great one of Ripley running on the treadmill at the Molina's place in western NC. While we were at the Molina's, we also got a shot of the Ruth girls together. Fun times!

Packing Day

2008-06-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

The packers are here today to put all our stuff in boxes. There are just three women. I was expecting more somehow. I can't imagine how long it would take me to box everything up.

We pulled everything out of the kitchen that we wanted moved so that we could make it a do not pack zone. Who knew we had so much stuff in our kitchen?

I'm writing this from inside our fort. We set aside all the stuff we are keeping here - either to fly out with us or to give away. Then we blocked it off with the air mattress. I decided that this was a great time to build a fort. I mean - how often in grown-up life do you have a legitimate reason to build a fort? And this is a super pimped out fort. As you can see from the picture- we have a lamp and obviously there have to be cushions to sit on. We also have a fan, a CD player and - of course - wireless.

We'll keep you posted as we say goodbye to Charlottesville. We've already had several farewell parties. This is a very bitter sweet time. Seattle will be great fun, but it is so hard to say goodbye to all our friends. And of course, it is a little sad to be leaving the first house we shared. I'll miss our squirrels too...