Thursday, July 12, 2012

Catch Up Time

Working a 9-5 job makes life pass by way to fast. I don't even know where to start in terms of updating everyone with whats been happening in the Escobar house.

To start, David received his green card back in March! It only took a few weeks after our interview to receive the actual card in the mail. It was such an exciting time! But meanwhile during this whole process David had been taking ESL classes at Seattle Central Community College. Right after he had finished the Winter quarter during his two week break, he got a job! He still was planning on taking ESL in the Spring quarter but changed his schedule to be at night 6-8pm. That way he would work during the day and go to school at night. After a few weeks of working 7am-5pm and going to school 6pm-8pm, he had to make the choice to stop taking ESL class. He is speaking English at work and is learning a lot there! You would all be so surprised with how well his English has gotten! I'm so proud of him. Now 4 months later he is still working at Al Van Equip and loving it more and more. He gets to work with metal, weld, bend, punch and measure (in inches). It's a super small company and his boss and co-worker (boss's brother) are super supportive and understanding so we couldn't be any happier with how this all turned out. Oh and I almost forgot the most important news...He got his Drivers License!!! That means I ride the bus :( haha oh well.

I have been doing the same ol' same ol' at my work. I've been super busy with loans, we've had a surge of applications in the past month. It seems that around this area the economy may be picking up or people are feeling more comfortable in their financial situations because they are applying for car loans like crazy. Also I've been working really hard for a Kiva Partnership. A part of my "job description" was to help get the small business lending underway. We've gotten the policy written and are starting to feel out small business lending. We've done a few, we've had a lot of inquiries and applications and slowly but surely are getting further along in our lending. Small business lending is hard in a regulated institution such a Credit Union and its hard trying something almost completely blind. I am really happy with my work. I'll be teaching a loan readiness class at the end of July to a class that is full of future small business owners. The people taking this class are all in the earliest stages to starting a business and all have or had had credit issues and are trying to get back on their feet. I'm excited to do my first "charla" since the Peace Corps.

Summer has finally arrived to Seattle. It kindly graced our presence on the 4th of July! Since then we have been on the go. David plays in a soccer league every Tuesday evening, we bought a bike rack and are able to take our bikes out for long rides, we started a beach volleyball league every Monday night, we also bought fishing licenses and all the gear so we've been out fishing a few times already and  got a gym membership where we take yoga classes every Saturday and are planning on doing zumba there as well! So I guess the theme of our activities is, get fit, have fun and enjoy the sun! This Saturday we are going Whale watching at Deception pass. David is super excited to see the Orca's up close!

We are very excited for some camping adventures that we have planned as well. Camping with the family at the Olympic peninsula in late July and also camping at the Ellensburg Rodeo in September!


Life is good.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Mt. Rainier & Weekend with my parents

My parents came up to Seattle for a few days during my mom's spring break. We had a weekend full of fun, food and wine, just another typical Tippy Family outing!
This is at a Korean BBQ. WE ate our weight in meat, kimchi and more yummy foods!
Off the the Boeing Factory we went. The largest building in the world by volume! It was impressive.
Theo Chocolate is AMAZING. My favorite was the Chai Tea Chocolate bar although the Cayenne pepper bar was delicious too!
While mom graded papers Dad, Patrick, David and I went snowshoeing up Mt. Rainier. We didn't quite make it too the top ;).
The Cherry Blossoms are in season. Beautiful!

Patrick...What a stud!

Friday, March 23, 2012

St. Patrick's Day / National Corn Dog Day

Corned Beef and Cabbage that I made in the crock pot.
It just so happened that this year National Corn Dog Day fell on St. Patrick's Day. Patrick's friend Peter is a member of the National Corn Dog Association and throws a party every year. The Association sends posters, tshirts, corn dog coupons and tattoos. Everything you need to throw an awesome party. There was a score board that was hanging on the wall where each person would put a tally for every corn dog, a tally for every 10 tator tots and a tally for every Guinness drank.
Patrick and Clay decided instead of a Corn dog eat off they would do a Corned beef and cabbage eat off, plus the tator tots and Guinness. I will leave that image for you to imagine.
It wasn't just David's first St. Patrick's day, actually celebrated, but it was his first corn dog and he's addicted. Although he decide to drink corona instead of Guinness. He said, " I'm not Irish, I drink yellow beer."
After the corn dog party we went home to rest and then met Paulette and Mateo ( both ex-Paraguay Peace Corps Volunteers) and headed to a concert in West Seattle. The concert was amazing, we danced our pants off and had an amazing time!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Soccer in the COLD!

David had his first soccer game last night. He's playing in a men's league with my brother, Patrick, and the Ballard boys. Last night, the coldest night ever, just happened to be the first game of many. On the drive over the the field it started snowing and I thought David was going to die.
Their team had 12 players while the other team had about a million. The other team was constantly subbing and getting breaks while David's team was good for the first half and their legs were dead the second.
Patrick scored the first and only goal for their team while the other team scored about 5 goals. That's ok though, it was David and Patrick's teams first game, while the other team practices year round. The Ballard boys plus David and few are just warming up and will surely kick ass later in the season!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Staying in touch

I love Seattle, my new job, being married and the new friends I've made. But I feel like something is missing. When I was in Paraguay I missed my "old" friends A LOT. I was constantly thinking about our memories together and excited to see them once I returned. My wedding was so much fun... not only because I was marrying the love of my life but I was able to reunite with all my old friends.
I never thought it would be so hard to keep in touch. Life is busy. I think about them all the time but honestly I don't make time to call them and I know I need to. We are getting older, starting new lives, jobs, families etc. I should have known this was going to happen but I guess I just wasn't prepared. Being so far away from everyone is also very hard. It would be a whole lot easier if I could just stop by and say hey but I can't.
Ladies and gents, you know who you are. I love you and miss you. I am proposing that we plan a get together, or trip, either every year or every two years. We can pick a different place everytime and that way we will have a date that we know we'll see eachother and something to look forward to!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Cross Country Skiing

I've been itching to go snowboarding ever since I've gotten back from Paraguay. I also want David to learn to love the snow and maybe even love to ski or snowboard. But before I take him up the mountain and up the chairlift I thought that he should get comfortable on skis. So we went cross country skiing. It was SOO much fun! He really did great and enjoyed himself. I too really enjoyed cross country skiing and now feel that we need to invest in some so we can get up and go whenever we want!!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

This is me NOT sticking to one of my New Year Resolutions

The bangs are back.Did you know one nostril is more dominant than the other?
I made a few New Year Resolutions; stick to a budget, make new friends and the oh so typical eat healthier/loose weight.
I've been amazing at making a budget and sticking to it. I now know we can survive off of just my income and be completely happy, so now when David gets a job it will all be gravy, or savings to buy a house. We've been good about making an effort to meet new people and I feel we have been pretty successful! My down fall....food...it's soo good with that creamy sauce or deep fried.
So while still really trying to change a lifestyle I've been used to for my whole life, I've also eaten some delicious not so healthy food. And why not take pictures of it because food's not only yummy but pretty.
Enjoy!
Sushi night with Paulette
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Beer Tastings
Talapia with a curry coconut sauce at Safari Restaurant
Crepes- Gorgonzola, pear, walnuts and honey!