A Vogue Feather Weekend

Me and Brian 

Dani and Me 

Ian making a silly face! 

Too many drinks! 

Last night I went out with Brian and two of our best friends. 

Dani is visiting for the weekend from Pullman and is staying with Ian. We tried to go to a fun art bar called the Hideout but it was too packed when we got there so we settled at a New Orleans theme bar called The Quarter Lounge. We started the night with Hurricanes - a cocktail that was too strong for my taste.. well most drinks are too strong for me. I am totally the person who orders a diet coke first.. and then a couple minutes later I order a rum and diet to pour into my big diet coke. That way it is much more diluted and I can drink it without feeling sick. After that Ian arrived and ordered us all shots and the night went on from there. We had a really wonderful time together and I got a couple nice photos. 

I love when friends come to visit. 

The first day of my last year...

I start Autumn classes tomorrow morning again at UW. This is my senior year, finally!!! Hooray for 5th year seniors. That's what I get for changing colleges 3 times and taking classes that I enjoy instead of focusing on classes that needed to be completed. Although, I think this extra year and experience in several fields has forced me to mature and grow in ways that I would have never expected. Every now and then I get down on myself for taking so long to finish school... that maybe I should be done by now and supporting myself. But, in reality who says college is only supposed to be finished in 4 years.  I take on this 5th year gleefully and thankful that I do not have a 9-5 job M-F... at least not yet. That will be next year as I sit here. 

I am nervous about starting classes and having to get back into school mode. It is nice though to think that I only have 3 more quarters to push through and it will be all done. graduated. From UW. I would have never thought such a thing was possible for a spacey gal such as myself- from Pullman, homeland of the Cougs. While I still feel like a Cougar at heart, I find that I adore the Huskies in a different way. I do not follow sports so it isn't so much of the rivalry anymore. Of course during the AppleCup I always want the Cougs to win but would feel just as happy if the Huskies got the cup now and then. I guess one could call it a heart divided. 

(a while back I found this adorable baby onesie that is half WSU half UW and says "A house divided" so that little saying has stayed with me in my heart instead of my house ) Back to my main point. I always felt like UW was too good for me, that only the smartest of the smart could go. As I reflect on it I realize that I have always had an extremely negative view of myself in terms of schooling/learning/regurgitating what I should have learned. Some things just never clicked for me and I was always able to just get by.  Squeeze through a class because of charm. Being that this has worked in the past I never really faced the fact that I DO have a really hard time in school, that I am a visual learner and I have to find quirky off beat ways of absorbing information and retaining it.  My learning skills have improved but I could always try harder. I still feel like I just barely skim by but now I am actually truly trying. This can be frustrating because even if I work my buns off I still am not getting A's. I was just never an A student. I wish I could say I was but I just wasn't.. well I did get A's in most art and physical education classes - but that feels like play time instead of school. For me it was never hard to jump rope or spin clay on a wheel.  Numbers and large pieces of literature freeze my confidence and I put up a mental block that forces me to think I just cannot do it. 

Well... I am not sure where I was going or how I got on to this but it's movie time with Brian now so I have to jet. 

Yay for The Princess Bride. 

Always love, 

Natalie 

Sunny September!

For those of you who missed us, Brian and I are now back in Seattle after 2 wonderful weeks of recuperating in Bellingham with Brian's mom and family. The first couple days in Bellingham are a blur for me. Once my pain killers wore off I started to really enjoy myself.  We went out a couple times for some yummy meals and Kjerstie, B's mom made a point of not letting my foot leave me house bound, so that was refreshing. The two times we went to the mall we were able to rent a wheel chair so Brian or Cora could wheel me around. It was great!  

I also got a new board game called The Settlers of Catan. I had heard about it a while back from a friend but had never played before. Brian and I came across it at a game store at the mall. We went back and forth a couple times with some games and settled on Catan (haha settled). the box says 'Game of Discovery, Settlement and Trade. It is a 3-4 person game. What a fun time we had playing for several hours each day. Cora loved it! Gus loved it too and for a couple days Brian and I took the game over to Gus' new house and his friends got really involved. I imagine they have bought the game by now and are playing as I write.  This game is so fun, it has so many expansion kits too, for example they make an expansion to increase the number of players, and other expansions include new themes that make the trading and settling different. I suggest that anyone on the look out for a new game should buy this one!  It gave me hope for board games again! 

I know there must be more I am forgetting from the trip but I cannot think of it now. Today I am going to the podiatrist to have my stitch removed. I will be glad when that is over and done with. 

Love love love Natalie.