Toofers!

Oh so I almost forgot to tell you all! I am back to being Toofers for the time being! Once again, the cap on my front tooth has decided to fall off. Leaving me with a crooked smile and half a tooth. Also, this makes it really hard for me to eat like a normal human being, since I can't bite down on anything. Hopefully my dental insurance will kick in sometime soon and I can get this fixed. Also, unfortunately when I try to talk somewhat fast, I do get a lisp! Drives me crazy!!!
For those of you who don't know. let me recap how this tooth has added interesting stories into my inventory. (This is the fourth time since i was 10 ish )
The first time, I was 10, I invited a friend over to my house and we went to the pool. This pool was really awesome because it had a slide that went into it. Of course, me being the daredevil that I was, decided to go down the slide head first. Now this slide had a bump in it, making the ride more fun. I remembered what mommy taught me, to tuck my head in that way i wouldn't end up with a nose full of water, so I did just that. However, I did it too soon, so when i went over that bump, my face smacked into slide and I lost half a tooth that day. The cool thing was that I didn't even notice, the bad thing, everyone else did and we rushed home to tell my mom.... who wasn't that happy, but we went to the dentist and fixed it up and life was good. About 5 years later, i was at a friends house and we were both on the computer.. she had a wireless keyboard so we were passing the keyboard back and forth, well i turned around to say something at the same time that she passed me the keyboard, and POP! there goes the cap. (I tell people I tried to eat a keyboard when they ask). The third time, I was helping Nathan install a doggy door. I was placing it into the hole I cut into the wall and then i knocked one corner in, and when i went to smack the other corner in the first one popped out and hit me in the face! This final time, was caused my a taquito... a soft taquito! it was a sad day indeed. Oh well

~Farmer's Market~

So, Nathan has been hard at work taking his mock DLPT exams, this week. I decided it would be great to get him out of the house for a few hours and enjoy some family time. Since it was Tuesday, the Farmers Market was happening! They close off one of the main streets in downtown Monterey and put up a ton of stalls that sell everything imaginable. From tap root beer, to fresh veggies, to jams and honey, even masks and hats! It was very cool to wander about! next week I will definitely bring my camera! So first off, we just wandered up and down the street window shopping, Then Nathan decided that he would like to eat dinner here, well sure, why not, he has been working hard. Of course, we stopped to get a Gyro place, again, not as good as the Döners we had in Germany, but not horrible either. Then we got some Frozen Yogurt! Yum Yum. After that we decided to tackle the vegetables. Over all we spent about 10 dollars on vegetables.. We bought lettuce, baby tomatoes, pears, zucchini, broccoli, and these green onions the size of my arm! As we were leaving Nathan stopped to buy me some flowers. They even had lilies in them :) I truly am a spoiled girl :)  (sorry about the small pictures, they were taken on my cellphone :) ) 

The Flowers :) 

Look at the size of those!

Ups and Downs!

What a week! It has been so crazy here for all of us! Nathan took 3 exams this last week, I worked extra shifts at the Inn, by the time Sunday rolled around I felt like I hadn't seem my husband for a long time!However! This week I did manage to get some more exploring done! After work one morning, I called up my friend Cassandra and asked if she wanted to do anything. We decided to go explore. So we packed up her adorable 1 year old son, my camera and we headed out to the Fort Ord Dunes State Park, where we had a leisurely stroll, our goal was to reach the bunkers, but we didn't realize how far away they were from the parking area! How deceiving that was! But Ty got his thrills while we were out there, he stopped to inspect every patch of grass in the path, also met a couple of  adorable puppies. and got to push his own stroller around for a bit. It was nice to get out of the house and get some social interactions.
Sunday, I got to spend some quality time with the hubby. It was a perfect Washington day! We decided to take echo for a jog, it was sprinkling and there was a little bit of wind. we get going, got maybe 7 minutes in until we hit this hill, it was never ending, so our jog quickly transformed itself into a hike in the rain! We spent a good hour frolicking around, Echo was having a blast! By the time we got back to the car, we were both soaked to the bone, Echo smelled like a wet dog and we were all happy as clams! It was awesome to get that much needed family time! Then, i decided to empty the dishwasher, and lo and behold, it had flooded! Opening the door allowed water to gush out on to the kitchen floor, (well at least that is clean now ) and the dishes were covered in soap scum and there is still 3 inches of water at the bottom, and the dishes were piling up on the counter. So last night I washed a bunch of dishes by hand, and today i have to pull everything out of the dishwasher so I can call maintenance and have them come take a peek. I would peek, but I have no Idea what is wrong.
Since, we will be having strangers wandering about our house, it has provoked some massive housecleaning! That is all that is new in the house of the Needhams! Hope everything is well :)

Cleaning Fairy

So, when I was younger, I used to blame my messy room on the fact that the "Cleaning Fairy" forgot to come by. Well it seems like this time, it definitely stopped by this house because I have been WANTING to clean! Which is shocking in itself. I spent a good half the day working on our living room. not just shove everything away so it looks nice, but an actual deep cleaning .I even cleaned under the cushions of our couch! One thing I don't like about living so close to the coast is all the sand. It gets EVERYWHERE! that mixed with echo's hair, I was shocked at the quantity i swept up! Good riddance it is out of the house! Tomorrow I will probably take care of the kitchen and tackle our bedroom and then this house will be spick and span!

Also, today i finally tried out the Otter Sports Center... it is an okay gym, definitely no UW IMA, but it was okay. I will be using it after work to get some cardio done. I don't seem motivated enough to run about outside :P but something is better than nothing right?

Girl Friday Agency

Well, with the slow season quickly approaching I have already noticed a decline in the amount of hours I am working. Which is very unfortunate, however it gave me the opportunity to find another part time job. Lindsay told me about this agency that hires you to "work behind the scenes" for busy professionals and families.. We do the easy every day things that they can't seem to fit into their busy schedule. So I decided to apply, the very next day I heard back from the agency and scheduled the interview. Now this business is such a smart idea, it just makes so much sense! I mean when you are working hard to excel in a particular career who has time to do grocery shopping, or send out Christmas letters or dust the living room and file the receipts from utility bills! The very next day after my interview... I got a call at 8 in the morning asking if I could work that day! So now, I am a personal assistant for a very busy single mother. Thursday's I go in and help her with the basic filing, organizing , and in putting information into her PDA. Then on Friday's I will be helping here with the light cleaning. She gets all her laundry done at a Wash-n-Fold type place. I pick up the wash, put it all away, vacuum the house, mop the kitchen, clean up any plates from breakfast, give the place a good wipe down. Help organize the apartment since they are just closing on a Condo and will be moving soon. And man is this woman busy! She wakes up at 5 every morning, and starts with the conference calls.. she works for cisco systems as well as manages her own business! She spends lots of time on the phone and on her computer. She had a 3 hr conference call this morning about something I couldn't understand. She is always on the move doing something, having something planned. She has a 17 year old son who is currently going to Monterey Peninsula College, and working on an art degree as well as a science degree, he wants to go into medicine. Smart kid! I feel like I could learn a lot from this woman.
Heck, she already taught me how to use Quicken! What a life saver!!! Nathan and I decided to purchase the software that way we could manage our money more effectively. We got it today! I know what I will be doing when I get home from work today :D

Nathan, the lucky boy gets a four day weekend, and I get to work all weekend.. Go Figure! But, I am so thankful for the extra 10 hrs I racked in this week thanks to the Girl Friday Agency (http://girlfridayagencies.com/) If anyone wants to go take a peek ( gosh that sounds like an escort service..but it is not!) Oh and today was pay day! woo hoo! so far its been a good day all around.. unlike yesterday.

I came home on tuesday to find that the brand new bag of chocolate Halloween candy we bought on the floor. I pick it up to put it away and realize that its... only half full... well that's weird..But Nathan does eat candy quite quickly so i figured I would wait until he comes home and ask him about the candy... I find out that Nathan didn't eat any of that chocolate because he ate an ENTIRE box of Turtles by himself. Which means, Echo ate the chocolate. OH DEAR!!!! Yesterday morning, he was acting really really really weird.. and so i run and grab the leash, hook it on him, run into the bedroom to find some shoes..and i hear this odd sound from the hallway. I look out the door and it looked like Echo's butt had exploded. There was diarrhoea EVERYWHERE in that hallway... I was not a happy puppy mommy. So i got to spend the next hour cleaning up the mess, and then disinfecting everything and then i had to head off to work my new job! What a long day that was.. Luckily.. I seemed to make Nathan's class's day by sending him a text that read "Echo's ass exploded in the hallway". I wasn't laughing..but they got a good laugh :P But he is back to being his perky self now that all the chocolate is out of his system. He also puked up all the wrappers in his Kennel.. we found that this morning. What a special puppy Echo is.

Sorry if that was too much information for some of you, but I had to share the story
Take care!

Absolute Randomness

So I've been having the urge to blog, but I have yet to be able to zone in on a topic. So instead I figured that I would babble on a bit and hopefully find something interesting to tell all of you. The past few weeks I have discovered Zumba! I have become an addict! It is this aerobic dance class that really gets your heart pumping, and you work out to some awesome music and it has dance influences from all over! A little bit of Salsa, some hip hop, some.. I'm not sure what you would classify it as, and even some Indian. I have been going with Lindsay and Amanda and it is such a blast! I love it. I come home drenched in sweat, but honestly I feel soo good!!!!! And our instructor is a hoot! He really pushes us to work out hard, and sometimes the facial expressions on that man's face just make me giggle. But honestly, I think he has a pretty good job..gets to work out, and watch all these women attempt to dance, shaking their booties. I bet he really enjoys that.

Oh! On a brighter note, Nathan has been playing soccer on base, and his team was the runner up, or as he said it "the best loser's". Now he is going to continue playing soccer and play for the off base team which is like a "select" team of sorts. And he is super excited!

Sadly, my work has been giving me less hours!  which makes things kind of tough financially. On top of which they have me working the weekends! during the evening! so I have even less of a social life than I did working at the Big Sur Lodge! It is kind of irritating how I asked to work mornings and preferably not on the weekends and that's exactly what i have been put on to work! Oh Well!  I've been trying to find another part time job that might make things a little easier on us. I also have to whip my butt into shape when it comes to cleaning! With Nathan and I moving soon, things have to get done so we can pack it all up. I am having this internal debate. I want to live with Nathan in Texas, but its just so hard to try to finance that move ourselves! So instead we are thinking that I will just move back to Sequim and find a job, that way we will be making more money and not have to pay for rent and just keep all of our stuff in storage. Also I think that would be good for Mr. Echo. In the mean time, we are trying to make the decision on where I will be living while he is in Tech school in Texas. Just thinking about living apart makes me miss him! But I know that in the end it will make us stronger!

Well it looks like I got something down :) I didn't want to write out a novel so I figured I would stop there. I will keep you more up to date with everything else going on :) Happy October everyone!