Sunny Weekend!

As is common knowledge, it is often 'rainy' in Washington. Although it doesn't necessarily rain heavily, it is often overcast, foggy, and/or drizzly. The rainy season is the winter months, so it looks like we moved to Washington at just that time! The summer is supposed to be lovely almost everyday though. This weekend was a really nice weekend though. Probably the first really sunny weekend since we've been here. And, for me, it was a long weekend. I had a half day on Friday and had Monday off for MLK day! After work on Friday, I went and got my Washington drivers license. I'm pretty pumped about getting my plastic version in the mail any day now! When I got to Seattle that afternoon, however, things were not as carefree and relaxed. Poor Ryan had been given a model to build really late in the week and it was due on Monday. And they kept making changes on it, so he wasn't really starting it until Friday night. I ended up spending a lot of time up at his office helping/entertaining him since he had to be working all weekend long. He ended up taking Monday off though, so we spent at least one day enjoying the sun around Seattle.

Getting Adjusted and Seeing the Sights

Ok, I'll be the first to admit, my job seems to be a little lame at this point in time. It really has nothing to do with design or architecture or engineering or anything that I really enjoy doing at the moment. I work with customers a little bit and get their job requests (construction they want done) and such through the ridiculous government system. I also do some military admin stuff with some of the enlisted members on base. The thing I am really enjoying about the military is really seeing how the government works from the inside. It really is a whole different lifestyle. I would compare it to a cultural immersion, which is the best way to really learn and understand about another culture. I am certainly not convinced that this is the life for me, but it is a very enlightening and bizarre experience that I will not soon forget. It's a great thing to really be a part of this country and try to contribute to its driving force. Another positive factor of my job is that has great pay, benefits, and job security. I guess if I was going to go through this experience at some point in my life, this is the economy to do it in.

Oak Harbor, where I live and work, is about 2 hours north of Seattle. It's off the coast on Whidbey Island, so i have to drive across a bridge to get there. Luckily, it happens to be an absolutely gorgeous bridge! It's called 'Deception Pass' and you can see Canada on one side and the US on the other. Oak Harbor covers about the Northern third of the Island. It is a small town and a good amount of it is military. There are a lot of really great outdoorsie things to do. I would really love to go kayaking around deception pass, there are some great little islands and lots of great wildlife. I saw a bald eagle the other day while driving around the island.



I spend most of my time in Seattle, however. There is definitely much more to do there, and it's nice to get away from the whole military thing for a while every weekend. I spend a good amount of time there before the holidays because I got snowed in! Luckily I had driven down to Seattle right before the big snow storm hit so I was stuck somewhere amusing. The base was closed down for snow days for almost a week, and then I took time off for the holidays. Apparently Seattle is not used to snow at all. I'm used to Michigan, where if it snows at night, all the roads are cleared and iced by the morning. In Seattle, they just close roads and don't plow them at all. I didn't even try to drive anywhere. It was pretty crazy. So instead of going anywhere, we just walked around and enjoyed the snow in the city.
It did become a problem, however, when we tried to go to the airport and fly home for Christmas! By Christmas Eve, which is when we were flying out, most of the flight delays and cancellations were over, but apparently there was a major parking shortage. I just assumed we would drive to the airport, park the car, and get it when we can back in a few days. There was NO PARKING anywhere!! I was even willing to pay the $30 per day for the short term airport parking. People were parked illegally everywhere, and the whole top deck of the parking structure was closed off due to snow. A lot of the non airport parking were either shut down or half of the lots was covered in snow too. Finally, we decided to drive all the way back to Seattle, pick up one of Ryan' friends from work, then drive back to the airport and let the friend drive the car back to the apartment. It all ended up working out, but it was a greatly stressful start to the holidays!

Life on the Island

I have since made it to Whidbey Island, where I have started my new position as a Civil Engineer Corps Officer on the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. It took me about 2 weeks, but I have finally found a place to live in Oak Harbor, about a mile from the base. I spend most of my free time, however, in Seattle, which is an awesome city. It's a little chilly right now, and we've gotten a little snow, but it's amazing walking around the city at night all bundled up seeing all the bright Christmas lights.

Driving Towards A New Beginning

As soon as my graduation was done from CECOS in Port Hueneme, I jumped into my prepacked car and headed north.  I started out at about 2:30 and didn't know how far I would make it.  It's been a long week so I was tired from the beginning.  I ended up making it to Sacramento, CA friday night.  

Day two I drove the rest of the way to Seattle, and saw lots of beautiful landscapes on the way.

Life As It Was

I feel like my life has been quite the roller coaster in the past few years.  I have had so many adventures that I wouldn't even know where to start to explain how I had ended up where I am now.  Six years ago I left my life as a knew it in Michigan to do what I knew I wanted to do since the 6th grade, architecture.  It was everything I thought it would be and so much more.  My years in the architecture school at Auburn were amazing.  I can't even explain all the things that I experienced and all of the amazing people that I met.  

After nearly a year of living in Alabama, I was sitting in an old barn in the middle of nowhere Alabama, more fondly known as the rural studio red barn, trying to figure out how I was going to afford to stay at Auburn for the rest of the time it took for me to get my degree.  I finally came across the bachelor degree completion program through the United States Navy and a program specifically for engineers and architects to become Civil Engineer Corps Officers.  Through this, the Navy would pay me for up to three years while I went to school and finished my degree.  In return, I am obligated to at least four years as an Officer in the Navy.  I've always been interested in being a part of the military as it seems like such a foreign thing to me that can only be really understood by personal experiences.  After much thought, questions, interviews, and a ridiculously large amount of paperwork, I signed my life away to the Navy.  

This let me stay at Auburn for the rest of the time it took to finish my architecture degree (and then some).  During this time I was able to study in Rome build some of my designs on the Auburn University Campus, and live/design/construct in rural Alabama for several years.  After the whole crazy ride that was my undergraduate degree, I feel like I'm starting all over again on a new exciting ride.  

In April I left the life that I had come to know in Alabama, and headed up to Newport, Rhode Island were a huge shock awaited me.  I spent three months being yelled at my a Marine Corp drill instructor who is professionally trained at mentally and physically breaking people down.  By far the most difficult, mentally and physically straining thing I had to do in my life.  Words cannot even begin to explain my time there.   On July 2nd I was officially commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy and got out of there before they could take it back!  It still feels weird to say that as it was definitely not something I ever envisioned myself doing before I signed up for it.   Now that it has happened, however, it feels really good to know that I have accomplished this and add it to the list of all the things that I have experienced that I never in a million years dreamed that I would have.

After a couple of months of pretty much vacationing and driving back and forth from Alabama, I started my next training for the Navy to become a Civil Engineer Corps Officer.  The training was located in Port Hueneme, California which was awesome because I was finally able to live in the same state as my sisters even if it was only for three months.  I tried to visit them as much as possible in that time.  I also had many other fun/interesting times living in a really beautiful area of the country.  Finally my time in California has come to an end, which brings me to my next adventure...the wonderful pacific northwest.  I will be living/working in Oak Harbor, WA, which is on Whidbey Island.  I'm still not sure what I am getting into in the Navy, but I appreciate the steady job in this economy, the good experiences, and many more great adventures that it has in store for me!