Memorial Day Weekend

Dave and I went away for the long weekend.  With several wedding and reunion trips coming up (and entirely separate flights - Yuck!), we decided to take some relaxing time with just the two of us, away from projects and distractions.

I wanted to take Dave to the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula, which I visited in March as part of a conference.  We also wanted to go out to the coast and see some of Olympic National Park, so we stayed at Lake Crescent Lodge and visited the Hoh Rainforest and La Push.

As one might expect, we took about a zillion pictures.  To summarize our trip:

Fun at the mouth of the Elwha River on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and at Third Beach near La Push

Hiking around Lake Crescent, through the Hoh Rainforest, and down to Third Beach

Relaxing at beautiful Lake Crescent Lodge

And in case you were wondering...yes, we stopped briefly in Forks.

Dave took my picture with Bella's car

 But we skipped the "Twilight Tour" despite the awesome sign that read: "Twilight Capitol of the World - Where vampires and werewolves are welcome and shirts are optional."

Can't wait for our next adventure out (further) west!

The last month

Since it's been almost exactly a month since I last posted, I thought I'd share a recap/update.  More than being a lazy blogger, I kept feeling like I didn't have anything interesting to say.  But I know something has happened in a month, 1/12 of the year, half the time I've had off since graduating... :)

Dave and I:

• Celebrated 3 years since we started dating, 2 years since we got engaged (and by now about 5 years of friendship)
• Traveled to Whistler, British Columbia for a weekend visit with my amazing cousin and her college band who were featured at the Whistler Music Festival

• Attended a great talk by Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, at Town Hall
• Bought some new plants at the Orca K-8 school garden plant sale (one of the school gardens where my service learning undergrads volunteered)
• And just this last weekend went for a bike ride to Totem Lake (the actual lake, not the mall), babysat our favorite twins, went to a delicious wine tasting (Thanks, Jean!), and saw Guys & Dolls at 5th Avenue (Thanks, Blana!).

In case you're wondering, things are picking up in the job search, and I really (really) hope to have good news to report soon.  This month I've had 2 phone and 2 in-person interviews, plus one not-yet-official but promising job prospect.  I've also participated in 2 panels for UW classes, helped at the Seattle Tilth plant sale, volunteered at the Washington Park Arboretum, and spoken to someone about some writing volunteer work for a small environmental education magazine.

We're really excited for the month to come, which includes a weekend trip to the Olympic Peninsula, a wedding Brianne and I are attending in DC, a triathlon for Dave, a small College of Education graduation celebration, wine making class, my 10 year high school reunion, and a trip to Memphis for an exciting family wedding.  More to come...