Wednesday, August 30, 2006

LU WOW

Well it's official- only have 2 MORE DAYS of work! I can't believe it-but my final week is here and I'm so excited to be done and headed back to my "normal" Chicago life! This summer has definitely been a strain but I learned so much and had such a great experience, it was worth it!

Anyway, I got the opportunity last weekend to be a part of something amazing-a celebration for my godson-Anderson. His parents hosted a huge party at a park in Wisconsin and invited everyone they knew (and even some they didn't know) who supported them and their family over the past 6 months. It was a great turnout and really great food! I think Joel is still eating the pork sandwiches this week!

I wanted to share some pictures I (and Joel) took at the party. Anderson was still feeling a bit under the weather but I got a few smiles and he was pointing and clicking his tongue. I even got some "la la la's" out of him. He's such a joy. I was so happy that I was able to come home and be a part of it.Lori came all the way from Omaha to be at the party-it was so nice to be together with some of my best friends. Good friends that now feel more like family...

Ella (Chelle's daughter) always takes a bit to warm up to Joel but he eventually won her over.
She even let him push her on the swing!

And of course-the little guy-he's watching his sister swing!

Friday, August 25, 2006

Amazing Adventures-Part Duh


First and foremost-I'M HOME!! Back in Chicago for the weekend-going to celebrate my godson Anderson's amazing life tomorrow at the LUAU!

Okay back to my chronicles...

SATURDAY

After our tour of parks on Saturday we went back to my 'hood and ate at my favorite Thai place. It was good stuff. Then we went back to my house and watched the new Pride & Prejudice. Nora had never seen it and I've seen it about 25 times but could definitely watch it many more...

SUNDAY

We got up early and headed to the ferry terminal to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island and then drive to Olympic National Park. It was an early morning ferry and there really weren't very many people on it. As you can see from the above picture-mom and nora were wusses-Nora thought it was too cold. I took that picture standing on the deck looking in on them. As you can see, I did finally get them out on the deck for a bit-and if you look to the left of them (their right) you can see the Mountain. It made an appearence for us on the way to Bainbridge! How nice of it. Once we reached the island we stopped at the Blackbird bakery and had a GREAT blueberry lemon scone, cinnamon roll, and orange roll. It was fantastic. Mom and Nora read the paper while I tried hard not to read anything!

Then we headed north and west towards the park and the ocean. We stopped at the Visitor center and got a suggestion for lunch at Lake Crescent Lodge and then we headed up to Hurrican ridge. It was breathtaking-the views of the Olympics and it was a beautiful day.We hiked over the ridge for views of the water and Port Angeles and then headed back down and made our way towards the Rainforest. There are lots of different climates in the park. Rainforests, oceans, mountains, it's really crazy. So we drove and stopped at Lake Crescent Lodge for lunch. Lake Crescent is a huge lodge in the middle of the park and it was so beautiful. The water was really clear and warm. I wanted to take a swim but we settled for lunch and looks.

Then we headed to the rainforest. I guess the rainforest doesn't get much rain in the summer. The moss was pretty brown and we didn't get to see any of those giant yellow and black banana slugs that the rainforest is so famous for! But we did take a nice walk and saw some really large trees and it was still nice and green!

Overall it was a great visit. I wish we had more time but we sure filled up the time we did have!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The Amazing Adventures of the Gifford Hertel Girls

I'm sitting at Cafe Allegro with my friend-Christopher Jette and trying to catch up on many many emails received and not answered...check out chris' blog, it's way more interesting than mine.

My mother and sister flew back east yesterday after three days of fun in the Seattle sun! Here is a abridged chronicle of what we did....

THURSDAY NIGHT

They arrived and we headed to my fav cafe-cafe on the ave for a little snack and some catching up. I had to work on Friday morning so we arranged for them to meet me downtown at my office around noon.

FRIDAY

We met up at my office and I took them up to the 73rd floor for a view of Seattle and the surrounding water and mountains (a much better view than the space needle and who could beat the price tag-free!) Then we headed to Pikes Place Market and walked around the market, ate homemade powdered donuts, and had lunch at Lowells with a view of the Sound. Then we headed over to catch the monorail from Downtown to the Space Needle. We rode the monorail just in time-it stalled the next day and is now defunct! Anyway, it was a short 5 minute ride, I think we waited for it longer than we were actually on it. The space needle was fun-we just admired it from ground level and browsed the gift shop. Then we went to a store with a sign that said "WoW this was made in Seattle" and mused about how much in the store was absolutely NOT made in Seattle. Good times.

Then we went back to my hood and walked down to Ivar's Salmon House on Lake Union.
Had a great dinner of salmon cakes topped off with chocolate mousse cake! It was delicioso.

SATURDAY

We started the day at my neighborhood farmers market. Eating Washington fruit and pastries while we enjoyed the seattle morning. Then we went resale shopping along the Ave and I found my sister a pair of jeans for fall. Then we did a tour of the parks along the Puget Sound-starting at the Ballard Locks where we watched some salmon jumping and enjoyed the day. Then we headed up to Ray's for lunch. Had a great view of the Sound as we ate some really great food and split a fruit cobbler for dessert. Mmmm. After lunch, we headed up to Golden Gardens State Park. The beaches and dunes were amazing, we walked up the beaches for a bit, enjoying weather. The mountains and the beaches were gorgeous. After our trip to Golden Gardens we headed south towards Magnolia to Discovery Park where we drove out to the Lighthouse and the beach-it was high tide so we sat on the rocks by the lighthouse and listened to the ocean. It was so nice in fact that mom and nora decided to lay down and listen to the waves. It was just grand.

Stay tuned for our Sunday adventures tomorrow-with more pictures of our trip to the Olympic Peninsula!

Silence is Golden

Sorry I've been remiss in posting over the past week. My mom, sister and I were out and about this weekend and I seem to have contracted some kind of ear infection. I'll download the pictures from our adventures this past weekend and post more soon.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Life isn't fair

That's what my mom told me...countless times. But as I get older the more I realize it really isn't. Anyone who knows me knows what's going on with my godson, Anderson. I just wanted to remind everyone to continue to keep him in your thoughts this week.

He has his first post-radiation MRI on Tuesday.

Look at all of the progress he's made since I last saw him...

My last visit...
A more recent picture...His parents are hosting a party to celebrate his extraordinary life. Anyone reading this blog should come and show support for them. They draw so much strength from it...

ANDERSON BUTZINE’S POST RADIATION LUAU!

Please join us in celebrating life and the many
miracles we all enjoy every day!

When: Saturday, August 26th; 1:00 PM until ???

Where: The Ixonia Fireman's Park Outdoor Pavilion
N8345 Park Street, Ixonia, WI

Dinner will be at 4:00 pm. Anyone willing and able is asked to please bring a side dish or dessert.

There will be a DJ, and don’t forget the HULA DANCING!
We will also have activities for adults and children.
(volleyball, horseshoes, cards, limbo, duck pond, and more!)

If you play an instrument, feel free to bring it along and join in with the family for a few songs!

Tammy Tietz has organized a silent auction to cover the costs of the party. For more information or to donate, please contact Tammy at rtctietz@sbcglobal.net. We will be recognizing all donors at the party and on Anderson’s Caringbridge site. The requested cut-off date to make a donation is August 20th.

RSVP to Michelle at: michellebutzine@hotmail.com

See-attle


Well, as Joel told me this week..."this is your last 'free' weekend in Seattle" and he's right! So, I spent my Saturday doing laundry, going for a run, reading and relaxing. I think tomorrow I'm going to go to a park or beach-not sure which one yet but I'll let you know!

I can't believe it but I only have 3 weeks left in my internship and I'm done! It's really amazing to think of everything I've learned in just 7 weeks. Amazing really.

I finished a book this morning. My friends Brian and Audrey gave it to me for my birthday, it's called Marley & Me about a guy and his dog. I really enjoyed. Of course, I bawled the last three chapters but it was a pretty interesting story and a quick read. I recommend it (especially for dog lovers)!

Joel complained that I didn't have any of the pictures he took of me on my blog so here's one he took while I was trying to figure out where the flip we were on our walk up to Capitol Hill.

It's really gorgeous here-I think I'm going to go outside and enjoy it!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Hella Tired

That's what I am. Super tired. I had a crazy day at work. The good news is...I finished up my intern project. We (my team) presented to about half of the office (55 people) on Tuesday morning. I think the presentation went well. It was on pandemic flu preparedness and we've heard nothing but great things! So, yeah!

The other news is...I had my "mid-point review" with my supervisor today even though I'm over 3/4 done. It was good. Really good. Joel and I have some big decisions coming up...but I'm confident we'll do what's right for us! She told me that I'm a "joy to work with" which I'm sure is a surprise to some of you!!

I love flowers...so cheers!

Monday, August 07, 2006

Weekend Wonders

I wrote this on Monday night...but for some reason it wouldn't let me post pics...so it was a bit delayed.

Joel just arrived back in Chicago :(. We had a great weekend hanging out in Seattle-even if he did miss his flight out here! On Saturday we got up early and went up to the Farmers Market and picked up some broccoli, green beans, a few really yummy pastries and some fruit (particularly good were the donut peaches-I'd never seen them before but they were tasty). It was fun to show Joel where I'd been going the last few weekends.

Then we headed to the capitol hill neighborhood. It was a pretty long walk but we got to watch the Blue Angels along the way because the Seattle SEAFAIR was happening (an air and water show) all weekend. Capitol hill neighborhood is on a hill...a really BIG hill so we walked around checking out some really awesome houses and walked to Volunteer Park-which is on the north end of the neighborhood. They have a conservatory with some really gorgeous flowers. check them out! Then we walked down to the main street in Capital Hill and stopped for some coffee (of course!) and then walked up and down looking at the shops. Finally, dinner at the Coastal Kitchen-which was excellent. It was recommended by a few interns and Joel had the herb-encrusted salmon and I had the ravioli fresca-excellent. I even ate some salmon-which was good!

Sunday we had brunch with some old friends at our favorite cafe and they suggested we check out the Ballard Locks-the Army Corps of Engineers run the locks going from the Puget Sound to the lakes around Seattle. It was really neat. They had a brass band playing Big Band music and they had some really pretty gardens and the locks themselves were pretty cool to watch. The highlight was the fish ladder. It's spawning season for the Chinook (King) Salmon and they are moving from the ocean to the freshwater to spawn. Watching them move up the ladder was amazing. Some of them were just jumping out of the water. It was amazing to watch. Then they have a place to watch them "resting" in a small pool that's part of the ladder.

We also watched V for Vendetta-both of us thought it was generic and the characters were flat...

Friday, August 04, 2006

Book it!

I'm just sitting here in my favorite cafe-trying to kill time before Joel arrives. He missed his flight out here and now won't arrive at my apt until after midnight...

I've been reading a bunch this week. I finished two really great books and thought I would plug them...Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson. It's part family drama part mystery and floats back and forth between dream and reality and the past and present. It's really well written and great. The second book I just finished is Stop that Girl! by Elizabeth McKenzie also very well written and it's a much faster read-only 200 pages and it flew by. That one made me laugh outloud. Good stuff. I recommend both. Next on my list is The Time Travelers Wife loaned to me by a fellow intern at my job.

Speaking of my job-done with Week 6! I have been so busy-it's really insane. In addition to my primary engagement (that's what they call projects) I have an intern project assigned to me. Our big presentation to the entire office is this coming Tuesday and it's on Pandemic Flu preparedness...I don't feel prepared but I'm hoping that I will feel better by Tuesday!

I'm hoping Joel and I will be visiting new neighborhoods around Seattle and I'll be posting more pics later this weekend. In the meantime, some flowers for you...happy weekend!!!