With months between posts, I kick myself everytime for letting this blog slip for so long. I do apppoligize for keeping everyone out of the loop so long. There is much to be caught up on so we will start from where I left off....

September....hah. My big brother Evan comes to visit. After finishing his job studying snowshoe hares in Colorado,Ev made the trip up to Seattle to stay with me for a couple weeks before heading back to Michigan to look for the next mammal research position. It was awesome to have him around. Unfortunatly I had to work while he was here, but on my off time we went to see the Arcade Fire, the redbull boxcar races in Fremont, and wandered around EndFest, an outdoor music festival in Seattle, where we saw the smashing pumpkins, social distortion, against me!, bright eyes and a few others. We met up with Uncle Jim and Aunt Claude a couple times in the city and made the ferry trip out to Whidbey Island to hang with Jim for an evening. Evan is now studying coyotes outside of Chicago and is very much enjoying it. I would definitely enjoy it if he came out here more often.

October... At this point, the only thing I can remember about October is carving pumpkins with my roommate Theresa, and decorating the house for the kids who Trick or Treated..... On Halloween we put on wigs and handed out candy to the kids before pouring ourselves some whiskey and cider and settling down to a movie.... which brings us to...

November.... For Thanksgiving in November, I booked a flight to Denver to see my girlfriend Colleen, that I lived with my last year at Michigan State. She is currently living in a cute house outside of Breckenridge with Sam and Amber, who I knew from school as well. I had a great time while down there. Colleen and I got stuck with all the Thanksgiving cooking while the others were at work,which made us a little nervous at first but we somehow managed to pull it all off. We had everything; Turkey, stuffing, salad, potatoes, green beans, and apple cobbler. All came out delicious and we at leftovers for the rest of the weekend. We went out Thanksgiving night to a local Breckenridge bar where they have open mic night on Thursdays. Watching Sam play the guitar and sing was one of Colleen and my favorite pasttimes back at school, so it was a fitting start to my time there. Friday was a relaxing day as we did all the dishes from the big dinner, listened to music and read by the amazing stone fireplace in their living room before going out for martinis that night. Saturday, Sam and I went on a beautiftul hike outside of Breckenridge with the dogs, while Colleen had to work. I met up with her later at a coffeeshop in Breck and we wandered the town before meeting up with the others for an amazing seafood dinner. I was to fly out of Denver the next morning but that didn't stop us from hitting up a popular club in town and having a great last night with one of my best friends. We made it to the airport on little sleep and I recouperated at home before heading back to work the next day.

Moving on to December... The most obvious moments being centered around the holidays. Theresa and I decorated the house with garland and christmas bulbs and listened to festival music. My company threw a holiday party for the office, so we closed the office down one afternoon and headed to a nice lunch with entertainment, prizes and a casino themed party with open bar. It was my first "real" experience with gambling, and found I didn't do too hot even after a few people gave me their chips to add to my stack. The funniest part of the evening was when a slighty intoxicated administrative assistant was trying to figure out which gentleman of the office she was going to "marry me off" to...haha. Lucky for me, I was able to take a week away from work and flew home to Michigan to see my wonderful parents and brother. I took the red-eye in and spent my first morning on my "nap couch" in front of the tree with the bustle of home comfortable happening around me. Mom and I met Jessie Bunce and her mom for lunch in Birmingham, which has become a yearly tradition. That night I headed up to my old school stomping grounds of East Lansing,the co-op and our favorite bar the Peanut Barrell. I was very happy to see and catch up with some of my old roommates and friends. I appreciated everyones efforts to hang out with me again. For new years eve, I hung out with my best budday Heidi at her sisters house and then joined her and her dad for midnight mass at their church. Christmas day was fun and relaxing as always. Our traditions never seem to change as we had cinniman buns, orange juice, and coffee for breakfast before spending HOURS opening gifts one by one. Although, I was feel a bit under the weather (I swore I was allergic to Michigan.haha) it was a wonderful Christmas with my wonderful family. The rest of the week was spent seeing as many people as I could while still getting my fill of family at home. I went to my highschool cross country team reuniun, roadtripped it up to Midland to see Jessie in her hometown, and saw my Mongolian Barbeque/San Fran friends at Kaytee's yearly Christmas Party. It was really great to see everyone, although there is never enough time to see everyone and fully catch up.

Ah we made it to January! To the present. I am still at my receptionist job downtown, which has its ups and downs. Although I can't say I enjoy the job itself that much, I really enjoy the people, working downtown, and having the ability to pay the bills and to save some money. I have made some great friends in the office and they make it worthwhile. Currently I am playing with them in a bowling league and a few of us are planning a trip to Croatia in June. I absolutely love wandering around the market, getting breakfast, veggies, and salmon for dinner. A group of us also went up to Mt. Rainier to snowshoe on MLK day. It was absolutely beautiful and we had a great time wandering around my old stomping ground. I will be going to at least 3 concerts this month and that is always good for my well being. I am very happy with life and am still finding new and exciting things in Seattle to keep me on my toes.

Hope this finds everyone in good health and happiness.

Much Love, Annie