{Hydration}

This schedule effectively eliminates any need/ want to mindlessly snack during work.

{21 Part 1}

After waiting all year to turn 21, IT FINALLY HAPPENED. I had two great nights of celebration. First, a shout-out to one of the greatest friends anyone could have: Cayce. She and I had a great time during my first night of legal drinking and made sure I actually had something to do the night of my 21st.

I spent all day anticipating how much fun I’d have, but I never expected the night to be one of the best nights ever. For our first stop, Cayce took me to Pete’s Tavern in Carnation. My cousin bar-tends here and I was hoping we’d run into her. No luck. We got stuck with this one bartender who seemed a little grumpy. Maybe two girls trying to order girly drinks in a dive bar is a little off-putting.

My first drink: Vodka Cranberry

We ordered a huge batch of fries = AMAZING and Cayce had me order a second drink. I really love Tequila (the slightly crazy-girl drink of choice) and opted for a Tequila Sunrise. We left Pete’s (with only a $17 tab for 3 drinks and fries) and headed to the Snoqualmie Casino. The casino is about a 5 minute drive from my house and is open 24-hours.

Cayce gave me $1 to try the slot machines. I initially won $10 off of this $1. I was so excited. I decided to use my winnings to purchase my third drink at this point: a Mojito.

Post-Mojito, Cayce and I played the Wheel of Fortune slot machine and won big! I won $45 off of that initial $1 and Cayce made $95 off of $30. Cayce, who was graciously playing DD, called for back-up (our friend Dustin) so we could spend all of our winnings ordering fancy (expensive) drinks at the bar.

Drink #4 was amazing. I’m dubbing it the Powder-Puff: Bubblegum Vodka and Sprite with a splash of Cranberry-juice. It was the most heavenly drink I have ever had. Drink #5 came short after: Pomegranate-Vodka shot.

At this point, I am DRUNK and glad Cayce is too. We ended up at the Sno-Lounge and I danced my ass off to Backstreet Boys and other 90′s hits with middle-aged-crisis people. Cayce thought I was insane. Dustin shows up, I buy him a beer and we sit around and talk for a while. It is approaching 12:30AM (Yes, I was really drunk that early in the night). Cayce and I decide on two more drinks each: a Cosmopolitan and an Appletini.

My total for the night: 7 drinks. How hungover was I the next morning?: Not at all. The night of my 21st was amazing. I hope I’ll never have any reason to gamble ever again but I’m really glad we actually won money and could live like queens for the rest of the night. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford such fancy drinks ever again.

{♥}

Apologies to my boyfriend but these shoes are the love of my life:

{A Visit to Snoqualmie Falls}

I have an amazing hometown. North Bend, Washington is truly a beautiful and serene place. We’re famous for Twin Peaks (based in our town and at my high school, Mount Si). However, North Bend is part of a larger community. Snoqualmie Valley includes North Bend, Snoqualmie and Fall City. While North Bend is famous for Twin Peaks, Snoqualmie is famous for the awe-inducing, Snoqualmie Falls.

Yesterday, I made a quick trip over to visit the falls. Even after growing up here and going to the falls probably a hundred times, it never fails to cheer me up.

There’s usually a rainbow right down by the falls. I’m not sure if I have a good enough camera or personal photography skills to have captured it. I did enjoy taking photos with my new point-and-shoot, The Sony Cybershot.

I have a lot of good memories of this place. My friend-group spent an entire summer here as our hangout. My ex-boyfriend, Jason, asked me out here. I just recently took my current boyfriend, Zach here. I think I’ve come full circle.

With my move to Virginia being way sooner than it should be (40 Days), I’m really hoping to hit up all my favorite spots in the valley and in Seattle.

{Summer Goals}

Inspired by my friend and teammate, Joe, I have decided to come up with my own goals for the summer. The list is fairly ambitious but I fully believe I can at least partially complete all of these. Some of them absolutely must be done this summer and others I can work towards. All of them will improve my life or self-development in some way.

Career:

1. Update my resume and transcript (need to send to W&M by July 1st)

2. Give 110% during my tax internship and learn skills that will impress recruiters in the fall

3. Research CPA requirements and start a study plan

Health:

4. Get caught up on everything medical (endo appointment, eye appointment, vaccines, blood-work, lady doctor & dentist)

5. Follow the Fitnessista’s 2011 Summer Shape Up (gamble, as she has not yet posted any routines)

6. Run a 10-K  in Williamsburg

7. Track calories to the best of my ability

Life:

8. Have no regrets leaving Seattle (AKA see everyone I need to see before I leave + lots of hugs/ tears)

9. Have a seamless and easy move to Williamsburg

10. Schedule a vacation with Krista, Cayce, Lindsey and others that will actually happen

Reading + Blogging:

11. Finish “Game of Thrones” and continue on with the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series

12. Read Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” with the boyfriend (even if it is a little crazy)

13. Add more professional blogs to Google Reader

14. Blog more

{Graduation}

is coming up fast.

This quarter has been really rough for me – there’s been a lot to come to terms with. A part of the reason why I’ve been away from this blog too. There’s just too much to do and not enough time to do any of it.

I’ll be in Williamsburg in less than 3 months. How can I possible fit in every friend I need to see before I leave? There’s also the fact that some of these people I’m seeing next week (various lunch dates) I will not see for years… if ever. Granted, there’s always facebook but its nowhere near the same. Plus, I’ve met a few people this quarter that I wish I met three years ago – people I could very easily be best friends with but will not because I am leaving.

In other news, I got an offer from Amazon which may hold up post-masters graduation. I can always come back if I need to. Hopefully, life in the South will be amazing and I’ll love it there even more than I love Seattle. But, it is always good to have a back up plan.

The boyfriend is heading to Duke Law. We’re 3.5 hours apart. We’ll both have cars. This is working out much better than I ever imagined. I can see him any weekend I need to (well, not really but theoretically, yes). The Triangle area sounds amazing – I can’t wait to visit and see Lake Crabtree!

I’m excited! But nervous as well.

I’m hoping to put a little more effort into this blog in the next few months (and hopefully the next few years). There will be plenty of packing, road-tripping, and sight-seeing to post about.

With love,

Hannah

{5 Songs}

These 5 songs have been on repeat all week (I have no shame and obviously a varied taste in music):

{Dare}

Confession Time: I love Blair and Dan together. I love Blair and Dan together so much that I don’t know why I ever shipped Blair and Chuck together. This is totally bat-shit crazy. Gossip Girl has moved up to my favorite show on television right now (I am really lame and pathetic) and I cannot wait for the next two episodes.

Supposedly, there is a huge Dair cliffhanger coming for the 2/28 episode and then six weeks of no new episodes. I’ll probably cry.

{via 1, 2,3}

Also, I agree with this 100%.

{Dudley}

The 7th grade was honestly the best time I ever had in Language Arts. Despite the class being with the oh-so-creepy Mr. Talmadge (I actually thought he was just fine), the projects were the best. For one of our writing assignments we had to write a funny story. I wrote about our Siamese cat Dudley shitting on my rug. Seriously.

We got Dudley when I was about 4 from our neighbors across the street. My mom loved Dudley. He would always got out on the sidewalk and bathe in the sun. Our neighbors decided to move to Texas and offered Dudley to us. They thought the move would be too rough on the cat.

Dudley became part of the family. He made it clear he was not the family cat. He was our mom’s cat.

Poor Dudley got treated with a bad batch of flea medicine and was subsequently sick for a really long time. Mom couldn’t part with him though. He spent his days in the laundry room sleeping in an old crate. He would only eat lunch meat. It was bad. The cat would adventure upstairs just to shit on my blue circled Ikea rug.

I spent many hours cleaning that rug with many different cleaning solutions. From Febreeze to bleach to perfume, I could not get the smell out and eventually trashed the rug. It made for a good story in 7th grade.

Dudley disappeared one day. The cat had smelled like death for about three years so none of us were surprised. Still, Dudley was a good cat and he makes for humorous flashbacks. I smile every time I think of that cat.

I love Siamese cats.  They are gorgeous, blue-eyed creatures that live to their twenties and go bat-shit crazy once they hit their teenage years.

Which brings me to this lamp (pictured above). They retail for about $75 now and this one is on Etsy for $40 + shipping. In fact, I was seconds away from buying this lamp until Paypal decided to be a bitch If I’m spending $50 for a lamp, I want it shipped to my Seattle address. Paypal refused to let me have a different shipping address from my billing address.

It’s probably for the best.

{Coffee}

This guy is awesome and he makes a mean americano.

This blog post is brought to you by the Google CR-48 with Chrome OS and Trabant Coffee & Chai in the U-district (not really). But it really is the perfect combination for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

As mentioned before, I am a huge coffee snob. I am terrified of leaving Seattle (coffee capital of the world outside of Italy) because I fear I will not have any good options in Williamsburg, VA or Washington, D.C.

A year without decent coffee is one thing but beyond that I don’t know how I’ll survive.

My Google-Fu has turned up a few options (outside of Starbucks) in Williamsburg. There’s the Coffee Beanery, which is a chain store. I cannot even figure out if they’re a real coffee shop or just sell coffee and tacky gifts. Williamsburg Coffee & Tea doesn’t appear to be a coffee shop at all but a roaster. I’m sure their beans will be available locally which is a relief. Last, there is Aromas Specialty Coffee an amazing looking coffee shop with coffee, tea and pastries. My first day in Williamsburg will be spent at this place.

I haven’t done too much insight into the good coffee places in Washington D.C. I am assuming there will be at least a few that will live up to my expectations. This coffee map on r/washingtondc gives me a lot of hope. Don’t disappoint me D.C.

Finally, I am looking for espresso and coffee machine suggestions. I don’t usually drink drip coffee but I will survive on it if I have to. I’m not sure I’m smart enough to operate an espresso machine and yield satisfactory results. I still cannot make decent coffee at home. I need to figure out how to make a good at-home americano. I will be pestering Devin and Mindy to ship me Seattle coffee.

The number one thing I am going to miss from Seattle (outside of the people I love here) is Trabant. I have had too many good americanos, chai lattes, and clover coffees here. Also, too many good memories.

Image via Trabant