“A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.”

You can take the girl out of America, but you can’t take the America out of the girl.

We had a great trip home. Funny enough we still call Seattle, the house we own, our parents’ houses, and our apartment in Geneva home. Guess you can’t have too many places where you feel comfortable lounging around in your underwear. Just kidding, parents, we don’t do that at your house.

On Sunday I got to go to Tara’s baby shower. This shower was awesome for many reasons including the fact that it was a beautiful day outside, Claire got lots of adorable presents, and there was more alcohol consumed at this baby shower than at some happy hours. Tara looks beautiful, and I can’t wait to meet my little niece munchkin. I keep getting excited for us to hang out a lot, and then the thought occurred to me the other day… what if she doesn’t like me and doesn’t want to hang out with me?? Then I remembered, that’s too bad for her because that is what family is for. 

On Monday I got to have two wonderful meals… sushi and tater tot casserole. I stopped by my old office and had lunch with a coworker… a sushi buffet. It was great! I then had dinner with my sorority friends since have a tradition of getting together for Monday Night Dinner. This is how we make sure our pillow fighting skills don’t get rusty. Steph hosted, and we had an American theme dinner with caesar salad, corn on the BBQ, tater tot casserole, and funfetti cupcakes. The food, decorations, company, and chit chat were awesome. I felt so special! I should leave and then come back to the country more often. 

John got to go to Mongolian Grill for dinner with some friends that night too. He was ecstatic. He got food he missed dearly, he caught up with friends he misses dearly, and he didn’t have to hang out with his dear wife for once. :)

On Tuesday we got a special treat. We got to hang out with Nathan, Katy, and Joelle, some of our best friends and our current favorite niece under the age of 3 (she has some competition coming later this year). We all went up to Camano Island to their beach house and had the best time. We had a kick off lunch at Diamond Knot Brewery where John and Nathan ordered the sampler, and I ordered a sandwich with chunky slices of cheddar cheese and deli turkey. We took a walk on the beach, ate the Dolin / Rich nacho cheese Doritos with sour cream special, and had a campfire on the patio. Joelle is adorable, especially when she says, seriously, “We have a real situation here!” just like Jersey Shore. I think it’s totally cute, Katy does not. And for some good news, Joelle has decided she likes John! She used to cry her eyes out when he would hold her, but for some reason she likes him now. I guess buying her a present (a Swiss flag of course) was a good idea since she's easy to buy off.

 

 

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary on Wednesday by kayaking with Nathan, going to a fun Mexican lunch with him, and then munching on ribs and playing Mexican Train with the parents. Romantic wasn’t the word of the day, but friends and family were, which is something we don’t get enough of here. My boss asked if John and I were going to spend any time together alone on our trip. I burst out laughing and said nope!

Thursday I went to sushi for lunch again since I’m a really lucky girl, John and I went grocery shopping (more on that later), and we had a family BBQ where we got to eat with all of the Dolins, my parents, and more. I think we played Mexican Train again too. I’m sure we did.

Friday was a very happy day for me as I got to go shopping with my mom and even got a token Auntie Anne’s pretzel. There is still something to be said for shopping with mom. And she is a great shopping buddy because she doesn’t back down from a challenge. The two main items on my list were black boots for work and a jacket that was as warm as possible. June seemed like the ideal time to shop for such items. Or not. At least I still got a pretzel out of the deal.

BUT, as I said, we were dedicated, and in the end we won. I threw away my old boots and have worn the new ones once without complaint and my winter jackets (we did a combo of two – one warm and one a rain shell) are waiting in the closet for their debut. Hopefully they are extra warm! I will find out in a few months I guess.

Friday night we had Dolin sibling night at John’s sister’s house where we ordered in Thai food, played Mexican Train, and had a Just Dance dance off. One of my favorite things about John is that he will play Just Dance on the Wii. He danced to every song. He is a keeper! And good thing since we're married and all. Speaking of marriage...