adventures are golden

i absolutely love the sunset and the Seattle skyline... this is an absolutely breath-taking shot of the Olympic Mountains... gorgeous! i have a friend (pictured) who just moved here and has never seen any of the beautiful places and scenes of Seattle. so we went exploring! this shot was taken from the beach at Golden Gardens and the shot of the two of us was taken in the tunnel.i must say that it is good to have someone that is easy to talk to. someone i can relate with. it's refreshing!

i'm aware that it's been 9 months and then some since i blogged... and that's awful! i was talking to my sister last night and apparently it's going around... she hasn't blogged for a bit either. i thought it was about time i update the world on what's been going on in my crazy little life lately.

i have moved back into my old apartment complex but this time i've got two new roommates. i'm still working at Lowe's in the lumber department, unfortunately... but i'm keeping my hopes up that i'll get out soon. i recently spent some time in the doctor's office and hospital emergency room with MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus). i could have died! crazy huh? good news: i survived. the only thing i have to show for it is a couple scars... oh! and some pretty gnarly medical bills... ha!

aaaaaaanyway... blog later! :)

-kmw-

the front of my best friend's car is missing...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
we brought in 2009 with a bang... quite literally...
as Megs, Alex and i were driving home last night, Megs and i in her car and Alex in hers, we missed a turn and went down a road in the wrong direction...
we came to a Y in the road and took the left... shortly after taking the left i noticed that Alex was no longer behind us... wondering where she might have gone we turned around and headed back, thinking that maybe she had taken the right instead of following us...
as we came back to the Y in the road we saw an accident involving 2 cars and a couple other cars around the scene.
"wow... we just came through here... on my gosh that's Alex"
we pulled over and got out and rushed over to her... one look at the car and it was obvious that that car wasn't going ANYWHERE... the entire front of the car, from about the front wheels forward, was gone... pretty much spread all over the road...
thankfully she was unharmed. she was a bit sore from the seat belt and airbag, but other than that just fine. a little shook up she asked for her phone, makeup and coat as we took her over to Megs car to sit down. she said that she had screamed the whole time while it happened and kept screaming until she was out of the car...
a couple guys who had apparently shown up immediately after the accident came over shouting at us "if you leave the scene of the accident you'll all be thrown in jail!!"
Megs put on her mom-face and started shouting back at them and telling them to back off...
Alex called her dad, the ambulance had already been called and were on their way, as were the police and a fire truck.
the passenger of the other car was walking around with severe head trauma, glass from the windshield in his face and shouting "i can't go back to prison! i can't go back to prison! put me in that car and get me out of here! i can't go back to prison!"
Megs turns around says "get in the car and lock the doors"
the finally got him to sit down on the tailgate of the truck that hit Alex until the ambulance showed up...
apparently the driver of the other car had taken off running after she had gotten out of the car. they were both drunk, driver and passenger. the passenger didn't have a seat belt on... which is probably why he had the windshield pieces in his face. the other guys described the driver to the police and the paramedics and firemen asked all the questions.
they made sure Alex was stable and uninjured and then waited for the other ambulance to show up to take her to the hospital.
in the mean time i called my dad...
"hi dad... sorry to wake you up... first of all, i'm fine... second of all i'm calling from Megan's phone because mine is dead... thirdly... Alex has been in an accident and the entire front of her car is missing... she's ok, the ambulance, firetruck and police are here... i didn't want you to worry, so i thought i'd call and tell you that i'm alright... we're waiting for the other ambulance to come, i'm going to ride with Alex in the ambulance to the hospital and then Megan will bring me home..."
the other aid car showed up and they put Alex inside on a backboard and did some more tests... it was raining, of course. i mentioned to Megs that no one ever seems to get in a car accident in the sunshine... not even in the movies... it's always dark and rainy...
finally after being outside in the rain for a good half hour, 45 minutes we were on our way to the hospital.
Alex was very calm and level-headed throughout the whole ordeal... she even called a friend of ours that she was supposed to be going to see on her way home...
"so... i don't think i'm going to make it... i'm strapped to a backboard in the back of an ambulance on my way to the hospital right now..." she was laughing and making jokes and everything...
we arrived at the hospital and got out of the aid car... as they pulled her out on the stretcher she said "please don't drop me!!" the firefighter that had been in the back with us, James (totally nice guy) said "uh... you're already on the ground..." it was pretty funny. John, the driver was pretty funny the whole time too. all of them were nice. the firefighters, the police, the paramedics... all really awesome guys.
we went into the emergency room and a few minutes later her dad and little brother showed up... Megs came in a few minutes later, after changing into something dry... she was soaking wet from being out in the rain.
we were at the hospital until after 6am... we finally said goodnight, or good morning rather, to Alex and her family and went home.
we're all thankful to be alive... it could have been so much worse...
ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT!!!
because what do seat belts do Alex??
"SAVE LIVES!!"

love ya girly... lemme know if i left any of it!
i'm glad you're safe.

-kmw-

six russians get stuck in the snow...

so my best friend and i went to a movie...
wait, back up...
so it dumped snow in Seattle Washington...
seriously... 10 inches of snow on my deck...
my best friend and i decided to go to see a movie in Bellevue...
she came to pick me up and we got stuck in the snow twice... i pushed her out both times and we decided not to go down my street after that until the snow was gone.
we went to the movie, and on our way home we saw someone stuck on the side of the road in the snow... i said that we should pull over and help because after pushing her car out as well as a few others over the past few days that it had snowed i felt confident that i knew what i was doing and could get them out...
so we pulled over, i asked if they would like some help for which they were very grateful. i got out of the car and there were 4 big guys standing around this little red car. all 4 of them looked at me and then looked at each other as if they doubted my ability to get a car out of the snow...
after talking to them for all of 30 seconds i discovered that they were, in fact, not from the US...
they were Russians...
from Russia...
and they were stuck in the snow...
i asked "doesn't it snow a lot over there?? you should be able to get this out by yourself right??"
oh well...
they were speaking in a foreign language and i had no idea what was going on, but i tried to coach the driver to rock the car... forward, backward, forward, backward... so that he could get some momentum and get out of the ditch that he had created by spinning his tires... (idiot... if you're in the snow and you push the gas and your car doesn't go anywhere... TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF THE GAS PEDAL!!)
i was talking to one of them who, since i had gotten out of the car, had been thanking me profusely for stopping and telling me i was a good citizen, and he pointed out that he had placed the chains that they had in front of the tires...
i explained that they weren't going to do any good unless they moved the car first... DUH.
just then 2 other guys pulled up in a truck and asked if we wanted some help... they asked if we had a tow rope...
of course not!
one of the Russians suggested he just push the car out, but that would have destroyed the back of the little red car.
after standing around for a handful of minutes they threw up their hands and called it quits...
before they drove off another car, driving quite erratically i might add, pulled up with 2 more Russians in it... OBVIOUSLY drunk... Banana was standing a few feet away from the red car, freezing in her little cute Puma shoes and chatting with the Russians... she and i observed that from the second we got out of the car we could smell the alcohol and it only got worse when these other 2 Russians showed up... wow...
we were all laughing and having a pretty nice time, considering the situation...
after struggling in the snow and trying unsuccessfully to get the car out for about 45 minutes i gained control of the whole group and tried to be positive and said "ok guys, we can do this. we can get this little car out... i've gotten THAT car out of the snow twice today, by myself (pointing to Banana's little black Golf) so with the 6 of you helping, this should be CAKE!!"
we proceeded to take our positions around the car, one of them suggested that i drive because then they would have a little more man-power to push...
so i got in the car...
"on the count of three i'm gunna go forward, then just listen for me and i'll tell you which way to push... 1...2...3!!!!"
i slammed it into drive, punched the gas
slammed it into reverse, punched the gas
the car started to rock
slammed it back into drive, punched the gas
slammed it back into reverse, punched the gas
it rocked even more
slammed it back into drive and out of the hole i went!!
i drove a bit down the road to a safe spot where i wouldn't get stuck and from behind me all the while i could hear 6 very happy Russians shouting "YEAH!!! SHE DID IT!!"
i parked the car, turned it off, abd before stepping out i said to myself "yup... she did it..."
i stepped out of the car and raised my arms in victory as they all came running down the street toward me.
"LEAVE IT TO THE 5' 3'' AMERICAN, WHITE GIRL!!"
just then i was picked up off the ground and hauled into the biggest 3-Russian hug of my life.
i was kissed on both cheeks by all of them and even on the forehead and nose by a couple of them (those ones were the more drunk of the bunch) it was pretty funny.
they thanked me over and over and over again and offered me some champagne to celebrate, i said no thanks, it's 2 in the morning and i just wanna go home and sleep...
one of them asked for my number... in case he got stuck again... i said "uh..." and thankfully didn't have to really answer or give him an excuse because my attention was demanded by the one that wanted to drink to success...
i politely declined and suggested they go home too...
one more round of hugs and a bunch more kisses and i said goodnight and went back to the car...

*ahh* what a night... fun times had by all!
oh yeah.
i pushed 6 Russians out of the snow... go me.

-kmw-