Summer in Seattle and a Cautionary Tale

 

I've been feeling in a bit of a funk lately. I've been unsettled or something. It's never a pleasant feeling, especially in the middle of summer in Seattle which has been unseasonably long and wonderful this year. So, this last weekend I decided I should get out of the funk and spend some time with some of my favorite Seattlites, because my favorite people are my favorite thing in life and spending time with them makes me the happiest. Saturday I had a delicious celebratory bacon jam, grilled cheese sandwich and a kale salad at Skillet Diner followed by a ladies' night in Ballard. I deemed Sunday a Sunday-Funday and spent the afternoon on towels next to Greenlake with friends. I'm feeling much more settled and happier this week.

That being said, I do have a cautionary tale: never ever get lime juice on your skin and then proceed to sit out in the sun (with or without sunscreen), it will result in a crazy lime-burn (no jokes - it's a severe chemical burn) which might be hand shaped on on both of your sides where you put your hands on your shirtless hips while taking a rest from playing Frisbee. It will be incredibly red and blistered and make you miss work because of it's severity. Then you will have to call me and I will come over and pop your huge blister with a syringe and suck the blister juice out and you will record it and we will both hate it. Also, I promise never to make any of you peel a lime for me in the sun, ever again. #chemicalburnfail #nursebekie

And now that I've sufficiently grossed everyone out with my cautionary tale, here's a picture of Seattle for you, because, I mean! Summer in Seattle is really good.

Some Wednesday Afternoon Randomness

Shirt (Gibson), Jeans (Citizens of Humanity), Pumps (Nine West), Watch (Michael Kors)

I know you've missed awkward bathroom selfies! Or maybe you haven't, in which case you can go ahead and pretend I didn't post that.

Long days are making my brain mushy and all I can think about is how badly I want a doughnut. One of those old fashioned, cakey doughnuts. A girl can't eat super healthy all the time, am I right? This craving probably means I'm missing something crucial from my diet. FroYo would also likely satisfy the craving. Maybe I'll get FroYo for dinner after Zumba (probably I'll be more healthy than that though)? By the way, have we talked about how much I love Zumba? Does anyone else do Zumba? Guys, it's so good!

A bunch of my Hood River friends are going to the see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs play at Edgefield tonight and I'm super envious. I wish I could be there. I'm having a serious case of FOMO today, which I'm sure will only be worsened when I see all of their instagram pictures and snapchats I see later while I'm sitting on my couch working away. #firstworldproblems I love how connected social media makes me feel when I'm physically separated from people I love. That connection is totally worth the FOMO in my opinion. Do you get FOMO? I can't be the only one, right? I also recently read about FOMD which is Fear of Missing Documentation which I may have experienced once or twice ("hold on, I need to take a pic!" "OMG I'm totally putting this on Instagram" "are you going to blog about this?" #guilty).

And, just for good measure, a few pictures from a thunder/lightening storm in Hood River on Friday night, which was accompanied by sudden torrential downpour, crashed our plans of going to see live music down by the water and was followed by FroYo and martinis with some of my favorite ladies #sogood:

Some Tuesday Afternoon Thoughts

Well, somehow it's already mid-August and I'm sitting here thinking surely I have not experienced all the things I love about summer yet, right? Surely this isn't the tannest my skin will be all year, right? Surely summer is not almost over, right? Wrong? What? Well, I'm vetoing. Maybe I need to move to SoCal? But no. Soon the rain will be back and I guess that 10 months of rain is what makes me love the summer so much, isn't it? Also, let's be honest, I'm trying to move closer to Hood River, not further from it!

I've been working a lot and subsequently I've also been stressed out a lot lately. And I've been complaining about it to anyone who will listen, but I think it's almost all out of my system. This is how I know I could never work in a big firm. I'm just not cut out for all the yelling and stress and long hours and things. On a related note, I'm now seeking a professional mentor. And maybe a life mentor too? But maybe that is just called a therapist? Ha.

Earlier today I was walking to Café 4 to get a sandwich and some nice middle-aged gentleman struck up a conversation with me. His name was Steve and he was telling me about Microsoft in the early days, circa 1990. I wanted to be all, Steve, I don't even think I was in pre-school in 1990, but I bit my tongue because I've found that people don't really like it when you say things like that. We got to the café and said goodbye and it was nice to meet you and then I ran into my co-workers and told them that I met a friend and they were like "Rebeka, did you just meet Steve Ballmer?" and I had this moment of panic. And then I did some internal Microsoft stalking and no, it was not Steve Ballmer (because oh my word how embarrassing for me to have met him and not know - I would have known), but he is the VP of LCA. And that's pretty cool, I think. But maybe it's not a very blog-worthy story? Probably. Sorry about that.

Other things that probably aren't very blog-worthy that are about to happen anyway: some pervy mosquitoes got up inside my dress at Kylee's wedding and had a feast, so itchy; I forgot how amazing match making is, I love seeing other people in love (or something like it) and being able to take a little bit of the credit; I'm ramping up my coffee intake lately and oh, how I've missed it; and last of all, I would very much like to watch another amazing thunder and lighting storm in Hood River with my favorites. The end.

work from home is the best kind of work

Since Hood River is basically the only thing I blog about anymore (I definitely blame work for the lack of blogworthy things, and my general lack of a life, while I'm in Seattle) I should probably keep the ball rolling, right? Right...

 

If last night wasn't just the best then I don't know what is. Work has been a lot lately. High stress, and just a lot of hours. So, in an attempt to return to some normal, low-stress version of myself I decided to drive back to Hood River yesterday afternoon to work remotely for the rest of the week and also to help Beth house/dog sit. Pop Tart and I are chillin' tough today.

 

But last night. Last night was good. I got to sit at a café by the river drinking a beer, listening to my handsome friends play music, chatting with my friend Gaby who I haven't seen in forever, and being a happy, low-stress version of myself. It was much needed. 

 

 

^That up there, was the view from the Sandbar Café last night. Prettiest thing ever? Probably. I never want to leave, but I've definitely already told you that. 

 

^That up there is me, Gaby and Andrea (from left to right, naturally). We used to work at Ground together. Ground bonds you for life. #truth.

After the sunset faded into night and the sprinklers turned on next to the café we decided to head to Double Mountain for a beer, and then to the Pint Shack to listen to our friend Tall Paul play some sweet jams #DJtallpaul - it was great. Other highlights of the night included meeting Kurt with a K, who I've been hearing about for years, dinner at 6th St. Bistro with Sarah, and chatting/laughing/loving life with Hood River friends.

Guys, I kind of went out on a Wednesday night. Who am I? That 8am conference call this morning might have been a little brutal. But totally worth it.

A certain line from GIRLS comes to mind "CAUSE IT'S A WEDNESDAY NIGHT BABY, AND I'M ALIVE!"

^Gaby and I loving life. On a Wednesday night. Bring on Thursday and Friday! Working from (the) home(land) is the best.

Things are looking up.

A Weekend of River Floating, Wine Tasting and Friendship

This weekend I went to Hood River in an attempt to make it down there as many times as possible both before summer is over and just in general. Friday night Beth and I had crab legs and filet mignon at her parents’ before meeting friends for sunset drinks at the Columbia Gorge Hotel and then a night of high-stakes jenga, mingling and dancing. We ended things with a post-2am-hot tub sesh and it was all just really great.

Saturday morning Beth, Greg and I ate bagels and drank coffee downtown and then met a group of our friends, piled into the back of a van (I got to sit in a camping chair in the van, very safe, obviously but also very awesome) and drove to the Klickitat River which we then proceeded to float down on inner tubes and air mattresses. I had never floated a river before and inevitably flipped over navigating some rapids, immediately after which my friends were there to pull me, the non-swimmer with the life vest, out of the water, back into my tube and then hold on to me through the rest of the rapids. It was a really great time and I’m so thankful to have such wonderful people looking out for me.  

When we got to the end of the river we loaded back into our vans and headed to a few wineries to do some wine tasting. At the first winery Beth and I broke a chair we were sitting in together and then I made Dave laugh so hard he fell on the ground after hitting myself in the face with a wine bottle. At the second I ate cherry tomatoes and basil out of the garden and saw some goats. After wine tasting we all went to dinner at Henni’s and then had a low key, early-to-bed night.

Today Beth and I visited with Marissa, ate breakfast, shopped for bras and undies, napped and walked Pop Tart the dog. Then I proceeded to have a minor emotional breakdown when it was time to head back to Seattle. Work has just been so stressful and busy lately and a few other pieces of the puzzle have been less than amazing too. Not to say everything is awful, because it’s not, it was just a hard transition back to reality. There are just so many good people and good things in Hood River and I wish I could move there. It kills me that I can’t, yet.

 The view from Syncline Winery  Dave LOLing at my clumsiness The grounds at COR Winery I missed the memo, or maybe they did?   One of us was more excited than the other to be taking a picture together :) It was so good to spend some quality time with this kid for the first time in too long – don’t let the face fool you, he’s stoked.