Seattle for Thanksgiving

I drove up with a classmate to Seattle early Thursday morning, arriving at my Aunt and Uncle's just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a full house w/ my Mom, her 2 brothers (my uncles) and their families. I got to meet some distant relatives for the first time. Not to mention dinner was delish. Pumpkin pie was probably my favorite. Too bad I hated it growing up..... I really missed out. It was nice to have so much down time and catch up with everyone.

Friday we went to the famous Pike Place Market and wandered around for a while as well as watched the dudes throw fish around. On the way back home my Uncle took us to a European art museum. I was excited to see some amazing art. Except he didn't realize they'd replaced it with some junk modern art exhibit. We had a good time making fun of the "art" anyway. It was ridiculous.......not a fan. That night we went to an outdoor parade in Bellevue w/ drummers, lights, music, and fake snow. It got me in the Christmas spirit!

Saturday we did some shopping at the Outlets and Nordstrom Rack. I FINALLY found some running shoes I like, and only for $25. Sweetness! I have a hard time finding running shoes I like. I only do Nike, but I feel like most of them are seriously ugly. And I have a hard time spending that much money on something so ugly, even if I do need them. I bought a pair for $100 that I absolutely loved back in April, but they had poor arch support so I returned them. Haven't been able to find a pair since then that I like. Until yesterday!

If you were a bumper sticker, what would you say?

I LOVE these bumper stickers! Yes, I actually bought them with a purpose in mind, but NOT to put on my car. You shall see my ingenious use of them shortly.....

I'm a Plant Owner!

I saw these cute guys at Ikea and just couldn't resist. I like having green around during the whole year too, not just summer. They already brighten up my day.

The big one has been named by my roommate as Seymour. Love it. Couldn't fit any better. I will be blogging from here on out with weekly posts about Seymour and how much he has grown, pics included. Ok, not really. The little guy doesn't have a name yet.....what goes well with Seymour?

Problem is this is my first time owning plants. I really hope I don't kill them off. Shoot, I don't even know how often to water them or how much. Help!!

Did you say Coach and Dolce & Gabbana??

Check out my new purchases from China. It was a big deal you know to actually go back to the mother land of basically all items purchased in the USA. You don't even have to look hard to see that all-too-familiar "Made in China." I actually got to purchase my Chinese souvenirs IN China. How bout that?!

So they have markets where they sell knockoffs of everything. You would never be able to tell by just looking at it (they do a much better job than NYC or Mexico). I purchased the Coach wallet for 40 yuan, about $6, and the Dolce & Gabbana purse for 120 yuan, about $18. Can't beat that! They have yet to disappoint me either.

The price may seem cheap, but it didn't come without paying yet a higher price. Bargaining in China is insane! I'm a PRO when it comes to Mexico.....I just shoot the breeze with the Mexicans, chat it up, and throw out meaningless insults. It's great fun. It's one of my favorite things to do actually, probably #1 on the list. For sure, along with chasing down nerds with squirt guns.

It's a whole other story with the Chinese. They are super intense and up in your face. They don't even give you time to think about anything. I bought a few things I probably wouldn't have just because they are so persistent. They are good. Instead of just chatting it up (like with the Mexicans) you have to say your lowest price, then walk away. They will call you back; you say the same price and walk away. You get called back again. Again. Again. It may take 4 or 5 times but you'll finally get it for the price you want. They pull you back by the arm too. This whole process is very time consuming. I probably could have mtn. biked a few trails in that time. I think I got a lady from 260 yuan to about 40 yuan. It's craziness I tell you! But fun nevertheless.

My New Mountain Bike!!!

I bought a sweet mountain bike a few weeks ago and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far. Lisi has a bike too so we go biking together a lot. In fact, she's the reason why I wanted to buy a bike.

Isn't it lovely? Mountain bikes are the way to go in my opinion since you can ride off road and on pavement too. It's a win win!! We've taken our bikes up the Provo Canyon Trail (both ends), a loop up Provo Canyon, Hobble Creek Canyon and Jordan River Parkway. I am just waiting till I can go to Moab!

So I had to buy a bike rack of course and I decided to go with a roof top one cause let's face it, they look way cooler, right? It took forever to install, but i did it! It looks pretty rad eh? It cost almost as much as my bike did, but hey in my defense I can use it in the winter too for cross country skis. Those are Lisi's and my two new favorite sports.

New Car!

After having hand me downs I finally bought my own car! I drove a little while Nissan truck in high school and a white Isuzo Rodeo in college (famous for driving places it shouldn't go!)....BOTH of which belonged to my brother beforehand. Well, you can imagine how sick of white I got after 8 years of it so I decided to branch out.

I had 1 week to buy a car before moving from T-town to P-town. So I looked around town a bit, but as you know there aren't much choices. I test drove a few Nissan Altimas, but they weren't that great. So my parents and I went to the big metropolis one day for the big car hunting day. All day we weren't seeing much, but then I found it....my perfect match....an '05 Nissan Altima. I couldn't be happier! We had a heck of a time wheelin' and dealin', but smart as I am, I let my mom take care of it. By the end of the deal, the dealership had appropriately nicknamed her "The Rock." Couldn't have done it without her!

I'm going to miss driving a stick shift and a car I can drive anywhere, but with gas prices these days I figured I needed to leave the SUV behind and look for a car. So here she is!