This is Kennewick!

Ok, so a lot of people ask me all the freaking time, 'what brought you here from California?' The answer is not as simple as me saying, "a boy." Because that is not the reason I moved here. Sure, I probably wouldn't have driven through here if not to meet Tyson's family, but I came, I saw, and I fell in love with this little city far far away from my home in California. These are some of the reasons why I am happy to be living where I am.

The Columbia River:

There's just something so beautiful about this huge, powerful body of moving water. I can't get over how much I love this river and the peace it brings just to look at.

Character:

This is part of the old main street of Kennewick. That brick building used to be JCPennys!!! Thank goodness there's a mall now. There are so many parts of town that have been here for over a century. I especially love the cute little houses that have been around since the beginning of this little city. You'll find that there are houses from every decade of the last hundred years, all with their own unique styling. That's what I call character.

Convenience

Yes Dad, we have a Costco. The Tri-cities pretty much has every major department store I can think of. I don't have to drive pretty much at all to get whatever I need or want.

Frozen Yogurt!

Earlier this summer Pasco got a new store called MyFroYo. It's very much like my favorite little frozen yogurt shop back home called 'FroyoLand'. I found out they're planning to open a new store here in Kennewick, which will be even better! I love my frozen yogurt.

Economy of the Tri-cities:

Minimum wage in Washington state is $8.55/hour, my 2 bedroom 1000 sq ft apartment costs only $550/month which I only pay half of since I share with my roommate. The average house in Kennewick costs $100,000. When I moved to Kennewick, I got a job on my first day. The very next week I got a second job. I had struggled in California to find any such job, even minimum wage jobs were going to college graduates first. I am thankful to have work, and to know that even if I lose my job today, there are more jobs out there that are just as easy to get. Basically, Forbes named Kennewick the #2 area in the United States for job growth, #1 going to nearby Yakima. I just can't complain about the economy here. It pretty much rules.

Despite how much I love it here, there are a couple of downfalls. I do miss all my friends and family so very much. I wish I could live here and with everyone else at the same time. I've also decided that I'm not really a fan of the snow. I'm just waiting for summer to come again.

My family

The snow I hate:

That being said, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! I love and miss you all!

Crazy people should not live together.

Back in October of this year I moved into an apartment with my friend Caresse. I think we really had no idea how crazy each other are when making this arrangement, and therefore cannot be held accountable for the lack of common sense when putting our 2 minds together. I have been known to make absurd suggestions at times for no particular reason other than the fact that the idea came to my mind. Typically, there's always someone there, someone grounded in reality enough to know how not good of an idea my suggestion really is. But this is not the case with Caresse. I make crazy absurd suggestions, like usual, and Caresse immediately jumps on the idea, no matter how impossible or stupid and sometimes delusional my crazy ideas are. I will give an example of one such crazy idea.

On a night not too long ago, getting close to midnight, Caresse and I were driving home from somewhere when we saw a guy walking along the usually busy street, hoodie over head, all dark colors. My immediate reaction is to say, "He looks creepy." While Caresse laughs and tells me she thinks he looks cool. So, jokingly I tell her, "We should give him a ride home." Obviously, I'm not serious because I just told her I thought the guy was creepy, but Caresse starts laughing again and says, "Chelsea, I would do that!"

The next thing I know, she is turning the car around and now we're following this random guy like creepy stalkers. Pretty much, the guy had ear bugs in or something because he did not turn around to the sound of Caresse's little Geo metro honking at him. Eventually we got up next to him and I just waved at the guy who seriously had no idea we'd just been stalking him for the last 5 minutes. He waved back. Ha ha.

After we got home, we just couldn't stop laughing. Hopefully, the next crazy idea has no major consequences.