it's not life that matters but the journey...

let's see... now that I've caught you up on current and future stuff, here are some details from my cousin's visit, and also my wonderful trip to Washington to visit my family.



first of all, I should mention that the three days prior to my trip were extremely crazy! The legal career fair was Wednesday May 23rd, and I took the afternoon off from work for that. I had to change my clothes, walk to the train station, and then take a 45 minute train ride downtown (they are doing construction on the line that runs from O'Hare - which is near my office); and then when I got downtown I had to walk about 15 minutes to the Career Fair locale. and on top of that it was a really hot and humid day! I was there for about three hours - about an hour of that was spent sitting and drinking water and talking to some other job seekers/participants. After that, I took a taxi to the hotel where my cousin Linda and her husband Tom were staying. Linda is my the daughter of my mom's cousin Aimee, and their family lives in San Jose. I haven't actually seen Linda for almost 20 years - since I was living in Sacramento and in college! But we've been in touch since about 2003 via email. She's been a great friend to me, so meeting her was a treat! I should also mention that they were in Chicago for a few days as part of a very long midwest trip. they started in Chicago about a week and a half prior, rented a car and drove up to Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin - and after leaving Chicago again they were heading to the Indy 500 race in Indianapolis. Anyway, aS soon as I got to their room, they gave me a couple glasses of wine, we talked for an hour, and then went to dinner. They were so generous buying beer, dinner and dessert!

On Friday, I took the afternoon off from work again and went down to meet Linda. I wanted more time with her since I know I won't see her for awhile. It took me a longer time to get there since I had to transfer trains to get to her hotel. we walked a bit around Michigan Ave - went to lunch at TGI Friday's, then walked a bit more and had coffee near Millenium Park. I took this picture an interesting sculpture in a flower garden on the Magnificent Mile:

img src = "http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/laurafuji/S6300015.jpg">

we returned to her room and met Tom - then we waited 45 minutes for a table at the Weber Grille REstaurant (yes, it's actually a restaurant that makes bbq on huge indoor Weber grills) that is inside their hotel. there wasn't much choice as it was the Friday before Memorial Day so it was very busy. the food was good, but it was really noisy - though we did have a good time and talked lots and lots! Here's a photo of us from the Weber Grille:



I got home really late - after 10 p.m. and I still had to pack for my trip.





Luckily my flight wasn't until 3:30 on Saturday afternoon, so I got up early the next day and finished packing and preparing. M took me to the airport, I was really early, and I had a terrible time getting through security as they were training some girl and she had no idea how to do a search (I always get pulled out for extra security because of my standby status). I arrived in Seattle on time (6:00 p.m.), picked up the rental car (a cute little PT Cruiser), and drove to my sister's house. We had the whole evening together - she fixed a simple dinner, we drank wine and I played with Cameron until he went to bed. oh and I was able to give the blanket to my sister - the one which I spent five months knitting! She was actually really happy with it, and she put it on the end of the baby crib where it looks just perfect. the colors match those in the baby's room, and it's just the right size for Cameron. here's a photo of the blanket on his crib:



Sunday we had the whole day with no agenda, which was nice. The weather was terrible - it was cool and pouring rain almost all morning, but by the time we went out after lunch it was between sun and clouds. we went shopping a bit - I bought some clothes at Old Navy, and then we did cosmetics shopping at Ulta, and then bought some Thai food to take home for dinner. We had a couple hours after getting home before eating dinner, so we watched the movie "Dark Water" with Jennifer Connelly. it was really good - and I was able to concentrate it even though I was also trying to entertain Cameron. He's such a good baby, hardly ever fusses or cries, and is so fun to play with. I took a ton of great photos, and I'll post a few here because I have to show off my beautiful nephew!





Cameron James:





Cameron and his aunt Laura:




My favorite of us together:


Cameron and Mommy:


Playtime:






I had so much quality time with my sister and especially with Cameron. he is at that stage where he is smiling, giggling and so curious - it's so fun! next time I go back he'll be a year old, so he should be moving a lot then! now he's just starting to turn over, and hasn't crawled yet.

Monday morning we had breakfast and I played more with Cameron and left around 9:30 to drive up to Port Angeles in my little rental car. It was an easy drive - I took the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston - and the weather was beautiful. I took some photos from the dock and from the ferry:





I got to Port Angeles by lunchtime and spent the whole afternoon just talking and hanging out with my family. my mom had a concert that night (she's in a chorus) and my aunt Pam came and cooked dinner for us. then me, Pam and my dad went to the concert where we met my uncle Larry and Aunt Marilyn (who was also singing). I saw some of my mom's friends and ate good cheesecake.

Tuesday was my birthday. I got up early - still on Chicago time I guess - and just had a slow day. My mom, Aunt Pam and I drove down to the waterfront around 11 a.m. and spent some time there looking at the beautiful view:

Pam, my mom and me (mom is in the middle):



the mountains:


After lunch we went grocery shopping and I walked to and from the store for some exercise. then my brother came over and we all hung out, drank wine, and they cooked steaks for dinner - along with potatoes, veggies, fruit salad and other good stuff. then we had fantastic birthday cake and I got some nice shirts from my aunts. Here is my birthday cake:



The next day I left really early and drove to the car rental place to drop off my little PT Cruiser:



and then I got to the airport, had an easy time through security, and the flight was hassle free. I got home at 6:30 p.m., M picked me up and we ate Indian food and the rest you know...



sorry this was long - but hope you enjoyed the photos!!