Will & Amanda

Our First Snow

it is dumping snow right now in the great city of Seattle, and it's pretty amazing. for some reason, by the time winter was finally over last May in Colorado, I was pretty sick of snow and was not that sad to leave the constant snow behind. but now...i'm glad too see some flakes. my response might change again tomorrow when i actually have to drive though. I just got back from a nice little neighborhood stroll through the snow-drenched streets. here's a pic for ya:

This last month has really flown by...more visitors starting with Asa and Marilyn at the beg. of November. We ate at some fun restaurants and also got out on the water to explore all the houseboats around Seattle. It was really a neat way to see the city, and we had great weather for it. The next weekend I headed to Spokane & N. Idaho for a few days to see lots of people from Wildhorse, as well as dear Krebs Cycle. And then, to top it off, Cheeks [aka Micah] came back with me and stayed with us for a whole week! We tore up the town and had some sweet time together. It was just good to have her around, and I can't wait for her to come back! [a-hem...]

Here is a picture of Will, Asa, and Marilyn in front of the Architecture Building at UW:

The Payne family came over for Thanksgiving weekend and we had a great feast & relaxing weekend together. On Saturday we all went to the UW vs WSU football game, where WSU pulled an unexpected victory [luckily, we were WSU fans that night]. Here's another picture of the UW campus...but this time with the Payne family:

Will's quarter is over in just a week and a half, and then we leave Dec. 18 th for the Carolinas!

Until next time--

things i've learned lately (a tribute to danae-nae)

ummm, i wrote this one on 10/16 and I guess i never published it, oops? but here it is:

we've been busy here with visitors, which is always fun because it forces you to keep exploring the city. Nancy and Garrett came 2 weekends ago and Emily and Brian came last weekend on their grand anniversary trip of the West Coast. we toured the city, UW, downtown, ate some seafood, and all bunked up together in our cozy apartment. good times.

here's my favorite pic of Garrett [for the Rhodies out there, please note that the Nat Aiken sweat band acqiored at the infamous Fab 5 Party is still getting some good use]:

another highlight of mine happened 2 weeks ago when i came face to face with the one and only Richard Kern. that's right. what? don't know who that is? think "Tool Time"... Al Boreland ring a bell? so we stumbled across each other at an event i was catering, it was pretty sweet. i mean, i know he's not that famous, but i watched quite a bit of Home Improvement growing up. he's pretty dang famous in the Godbold Household.

a brief update from amanda...

so tonight i "passed" my check-out shift as a shift manager at Starbucks. yeah, that's right. i'm a certified barista and now a certifed shift supervisor. so far, i do love working there because it's great interaction with people, and it's pretty low stress because as they say, "it's just coffee". so true. and it's fun to start to recognize people and start to learn their drink of choice. i'm at a not-so-busy Starbucks (well, at least by Seattle standards) so that probably helps with the stress level.

i've also been hired by several catering companies as a part-time on call catering server, which i'm quite excited about as well. i'm eager to gain some catering experience and exposure to that industry. although i'll be more FOH than BOH (front of the house, not back of the house) i think it will still be great experience. i have my first job this Saturday at the UW Urban Horticulture Center so we'll see how it goes.

so far all my jobs require a black and white dress code, so i'm finding out that as soon as i get home, i have this urge to change into clothes with lots of color. who knew all my orange attire would be SO handy???

all in all, i'm loving the city of Seattle. my heart is at peace here, more so than anywhere else i've lived. i'm not sure why, but that is the overwhelming feeling i have thus far.

we went on our first run in the rain on Sunday...oh boy. we had mud all over us, but it was quite enjoyable nonetheless.

until next time...agp

seattle skyline from Bainbridge Island ferry boat

Our New Home

Here are a few shots of our lovely apartment in Seattle. We are mostly settled, just a few boxes left that we just shoved under Will's gigantic desk (aka "control center") that we are trying to forget about b/c we're not sure where to put those things...
As you can see, there is plenty of floor space for visitors!!! We've already slept 4 people on this floor!

The bedroom...

and the Kitchen (taken from the entrance)

I took a picture of the bathroom but it is so small you couldn't even see it! But it's very easy to multi-task while in the bathroom, if you know what I mean :)

Saying Goodbye to BV

how do you say goodbye to this? Amanda holding Signe one last time.
Although in a lot of ways we were ready to move on from BV, in no way was it easy to say goodbye to the people that we love so dearly in Colorado.

...or this magnificent view.

The Last Month

although our blog has hardly been maximized to it's full potential in the last year, i am determined to change that with our latest move West (also known as "the wrong side" of the country to some family members :)

so here are a few pictures to document our last month. we were really blessed to have such a large chunk of time to move, see family and friends in numerous states, and really get some quality time together before school starts for Will (driving across the country is a great way to get some quality time, especially when half of it doesn't have a radio...)

so first, some pictures from our trip East...

our last night in Colorado Springs, one last chance for Will to win "Cities & Knights"
denied.

Peaking Mt. Sunflower, the highest point in Kansas (real tough hike, phew)

Our stop in Memphis where we got to see the Harris's, Sherrard's, Robinson's, Walker, & the Gramm's.

Will holding Hudson Josiah Harris (one week old).

Next stop: Brevard, NC where we spent 3 days in the beautiful Pisgah National Forest, slept late, shopped, and enjoyed the scenery. We did take a short trip to peak the highest point in South Carolina, which is where the picture was taken, Mt. Sassafras (another tough hike).

And our last stop...the lakehouse. Where Will got blisters from over-jet-skiing, Amanda dominated in the 10th annual Godbold sister diving contest, and as always, we ate quite well.

A few pics from Garrett and Tristan's visit here. We saw what was definitely the best snow yet this season in Colorado at Keystone on Saturday Feb. 17th - then some great snow and riding at Arapahoe Basin on the 18th.