Hops Fest 2014

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my favorite part of fall is the beer. I love pumpkin beer, of course, but I also really love fresh hop beer. Every year Hood River, Oregon, hosts a fresh hop beer festival called Hops Fest. I’ve been the last 3 or 4 years in a row and it’s always a blast. It was really nice this year (last year it rained, a lot, boo) which made the whole thing that much more magical. I drove down to Hood River on Saturday morning after a Friday evening spent Zumba-ing then eating a Dustin made quesadilla while watching Revenge of the Nerds for the first time, which, so good! On my way I pit stopped in Portland to grab a cold brewed ice coffee from Marissa so that I would have plenty of energy for my day drinking and then headed straight for the homeland. When I got to Hood River I met Beth and her coworkers Amy and Jessica for some Mexican food before Beth and I headed down town to Hops Fest.

I often feel like the prettiest, most popular princess when I’m in White Salmon/Hood River. I think it’s mostly because I know so many people there and they all always seem legitimately excited to see me. The feeling is definitely mutual. #iloveitthere

One of the first people I ran into at Hops Fest was my first ever boyfriend, Colby. We “dated” in 6th grade after he asked my friend to ask me out. Obviously I said yes. So much romance! Things didn’t last long and we ended up breaking up on the playground before we got the chance to so much as hold hands. Good times. Anyway, I ran into Colby and he proceeded to tell me that it looked like I was wearing a MuuMuu. Whatever, Colby. Sweet Overalls. We decided we were #obvi the best dressed at Hops Fest and took a picture!! 

^^Colby and I = Best Dressed at Hops Fest^^
^^Also, men may hate my dress but I can assure you it’s actually pretty amazing (and kind of warm without being hot) and I got a ton of compliments from girls on it. You can find it HERE if you’re interested! But definitely size down AT LEAST one size^^

I was also spotted by my mom’s childhood best friend, Renee. We took this picture to text to my mom:

I’m definitely not going to pretend like I wasn’t “that girl” on Saturday who was constantly asking everyone to “take our picture, pleaseeee?!”

Whatever, totally worth it.

At Hops Fest you pay a fee to get in and upon entry you get a plastic tasting mug and some tokens. One token gets you a taste of the beer, 4 gets you a full mug. I’m usually a big fan of doing the 1 token thing that way I can taste more delicious brews. However, near the end, I kept giving people I knew one token and would magically receive a full beer. I mean, I’m not complaining but also that was a lot of beers.

Also, you guys, the WORST thing happened to me. I was using the portapotty at the event and I sat my beer on top of the toilette paper holder and mid-pee it FELL ONTO THE GROUND. The little bit of beer in my cup got all over my booties and MY CUP WAS ALL OVER THE PORTAPOTTY GROUND! OMG. I had to go beg the event staff for a new cup, luckily they were pretty nice about it and switched the nasty cup for a clean one.

Anyway, day drinking, fun times, friends, we got drunk. Case in point these pictures from right before we left the beer garden:

^^Beth and Dana falling on the ground^^

  ^^Beth and I are so excited to see Dana!^^

Hops Fest ended around 9pm and then Beth and I decided it would be a really great/super fun/not at all terrible idea to go bar hopping on an empty stomach, because obviously we hadn’t already had enough to drink… We were so busy drinking that we forgot to eat dinner too. Bad news bears. We went to the pub to meet our friend Josh who just got off work and then we ended up at Jack’s. Oh man.

The next day I hung out at my parents’ house, snuggled with my Fluffy cat, picked a million tomatoes, apples, plumbs, and corn from their garden and visited with my Grandpa (or grandma’s second husband) before I headed back to Seattle. Obviously I had a blast this weekend despite having a little too much to drink. Maybe I was just exercising my liver for Vegas this weekend? Ha. Kidding guys. I know alcohol is dangerous and bad, plz don’t judge or lecture me! I don’t drink like that often. But yes, Hops Fest is my favorite and I can’t wait to go again next year!! Totally worth the drive!

on blogging without a filter

I recently went back and read some random posts I wrote while I was in law school and I’ve come the the conclusion that my life is so much more balanced and happy now, I’m way less stressed out and I wouldn’t go back to that time if you paid me. However, you guys, I think I was a lot funnier in law school. Case in point, this post:

What in the…? Guys, I have no idea but I will tell you that when I came across it I laughed really hard.

I also laughed really hard at this line in a post from September 14, 2011:

I’m tired of being over stimulated. That’s not what she said, BTW.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I was just so stressed out for so long that filters no longer mattered to me. I was fine with saying whatever was on my mind because, (1) I didn’t have a lot of other outlets, and (2) the backlash from writing the word “wiener” on my personal blog was the least of my concerns. I want to go back to that place. Not the super stressed out part but the unfiltered part, because that Rebeka is someone I would want to be friends with, and that Rebeka is more like real-life-Rebeka. Because if you were to meet me in real life you would quickly learn that I like to keep things real, I obviously somewhat censor things depending on audience and I like to think that I’m very kind and don’t say things that hurt peoples feelings (hopefully!) but I drop F-bombs and laugh at “that’s what she said” jokes.

Anyway, let’s end this revelation with a little recap of my day yesterday, because everyone knows “this is what I want to blog about” posts or “sorry I haven’t blogged, blah blah” posts are the worst.

Wednesday was really rainy in Seattle. Fall is here guys. And by Fall, I mean the rainy season. Anyway, I’m driving to work Wednesday morning and I notice water leaking down the front of my passenger side seat as well as the back and pooling in the rubber mat in the back passenger side. Um, WHAT? My brand new, fancy-as-fuck, 6 week old car should NOT be leaking from the sunroof! Obviously, cue freakout, call the dealership, they tell me they’re going to need my car for the whole day but no worries, they have a shuttle that will take me to work. No. No no no. I explain to them that my decision to purchase the “Limited” version of my car meant it came with some Toyota Care thing that offers me roadside assistance, a rental car in case my car breaks, and other things I couldn’t name off the top of my head. The guy says he’s going to have to call me back. I tell him when he calls me back I want to hear that they’re fixing my leaking sunroof for free and they will have a rental waiting for me when I get there tomorrow morning. Done and done. #lawyered

I take my car to the dealership yesterday morning, they make me wait until they test it to make sure there is actually a leak. I’m already late for work. I end up being at the dealership for an hour while they determine that somehow some tree sap was blocking one of the sunroof drains or something. They plucked out the sap, showed it to me, confirmed my car was no longer leaking, changed my oil and I left for work in my car. I’m happy I don’t have to go back. That dealership is the worst.

After getting to work really, really late, I obviously also needed to leave early, because you know: employee of the fucking year right here. I work approximately 3.5 hours before heading out for a previously scheduled appointment, arrive late to appointment because of surprise traffic on the 520 and NO parking anywhere nearby – I hate being late, so so much. Leave appointment, go home, work from my couch for a couple hours before I go to meet Dustin, Art, their coworker Willy in town from Singapore and Amy.

A few months ago I forced Amy to quit her job. No joke. I went to happy hour with her and Art and I was like, Amy, Art has a really good job, you HATE your job, just quit. Quit tomorrow. And she did. She literally quit the next day. To explain a little further, Amy was an elementary school teacher for many years, she supported Art while he was in school and then when he was a security guard for a Vendor company at a Microsoft Data Center. Amy decided she needed a change, she quit teaching and she started working as a bank teller part time after Art got his really great FTE Microsoft job. She was really good at her bank job and they kept asking her to work full time hours even though she only wanted part time because Art worked SO much and she needed to be able to compensate for that, they didn’t really appreciate her, and then she got robbed at work. Yep, you read that right, Amy was working when a robber came up to her and slipped her a note demanding she give him money. None of her coworkers even paid attention to her gestures for help, she pushed the I WAS JUST ROBBED button under her desk (still no one noticed), slipped some tracking device into one of the stacks of cash she gave the robber and the police caught him a few blocks away. Amy saves the day! Anyway, happy hour was not long after Amy was robbed and she was dreading going to work the next day and so I forced her to quit. It took Amy much longer than anticipated to find a new job. But yesterday she met us at Uber with great news! She was just offered a job at a school in Renton! Horray! I was so happy – mostly because I was starting to feel guilty that I forced her to quit and then she was unemployed for like 4 months. OOPS!

Anyway, Amy and I caught up inside over a pumpkin beer while the guys smoked a cigar outside (because apparently that’s what men do?!) and then when they came back inside, we decided it was time to go get dinner. We went to El Chupacabra for Mexican food and while we were waiting for a table I got a chance to talk to Art and Dustin’s coworker, Willy. Willy lives in Singapore and works for Microsoft doing data-center-related-things in Asia. Willy has a good job, so does his wife. He was telling me that it’s incredibly expensive to live in Singapore. Apparently to have a car you first have to purchase a certificate of entitlement that costs $60,000 – ON TOP of the cost of a car! What? Apparently buying/renting a house there is also incredibly expensive. Willy was telling me that he is married and has two kids, an adorable daughter and a fat baby boy (who is so cute). Willy lives with his parents (because they help with the kids, but also because his mother is getting old and needs assistance as well), his wife, kids, and a nanny/maid in a 600 square foot home. WHAT? He told me that his parents have their own room, the fat baby and nanny share a bed in a closet and Willy, his wife and his daughter sleep in the living room area on a queen size bed, but usually his wife and daughter sleep in the bed and he ends up on the floor. Isn’t that insane? I thought just me in my 400 square foot apartment was pushing it. I have no idea how they don’t drive each other crazy. Stories like that make me feel so thankful I live in America. Although, Singapore does sound kind of awesome and really, really safe (probably because you can get beat with a cane for spitting gum on the street, so imagine the penalties for doing something actually terrible!). Tell me, have you ever visited?

Anyway, that was a lot of words. I’m not even sorry. Here’s to blogging more about feelings and things and having less of a filter. Also to living somewhere where you can freely spit your gum out without getting beat with a cane, amiright? CHEERS!

Sister Kylee had a baby!

Fun Rebeka fact that, if you're a long time reader, you probably already know: I was in a sorority in college. I lived in the sorority house with 90something girls all 4 years I spent at the University of Washington. I had and have a lot of mixed feelings about my experience but I did make some life long friends and learned a few valuable lessons (ex: sleeping porches teach you how to sleep anywhere, shared bathrooms get rid of bladder shyness real quick, and a million days of small talk during recruitment means that I can hold a conversation with just about anyone).

During college I shared a room with my "sister roommies" Kylee and Erin. I lived with them both together in a tiny room, and I've lived separately with each of them too during various quarters in the house. Then, when college was over, during my second and third years of law school and while I was studying for the Bar Exam, I lived with Kylee and Erin in a lovely house in Wallingford. When we moved out of that house Kylee moved in with her boyfriend Jason. They got engaged shortly after moving in together, got married the following summer and three weeks ago, she had a baby. I got to meet baby Nolan yesterday at a happy hour with my pledge class (PC05) - we started freshman year with 30something girls and when we graduated there were only 11 of us, 6 of us live in Seattle still.

^^SISTER AUNTIES!!^^
^^L->R: Kate, me, Erin, Elizabeth, Kylee (and Nolan), and Julia^^

Another fun fact, I call a lot of the girls I’m closest with from the sorority “sister.” It started as a joke during recruitment our sophomore year that just kind of stuck. It got a little confusing at times when Kylee, Erin and I lived together in our house and we would scream “sister!” from up or down stairs to one another. Surprisingly, though, we almost always knew who the other was shouting for!

Anyway, Happy Hour last night was fun. We chatted/caught up on big life events, ate pizza, drank wine and played pass the baby. While I’m not the hugest fan of random kids (ex: running into me at the grocery store, screaming when I’m trying to eat dinner, being misbehaved in general), I do really love a lot of babes and I always appreciate a good baby snuggle – especially when they’re peacefully sleeping or happily awake.

^^Me with 6 1/2lb, 3.5 week old baby Nolan James Sharp – isn’t he tiny?!^^

It’s pretty crazy to me that 2 of my sorority sisters now have kids, 4 are married and most of the rest of us have big-girl-jobs. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone in the Spring when we hopefully all go to Austin, TX. for a PC05 5 year reunion trip!

Congrats again, Sister Kylee! I can’t believe you made a baby!!

^^Kylee and Nolan^^

Day of Caring 2014 and a Heart Concert

This past weekend seemed to kick off a day early because instead of a normal work day on Friday, my team at work participated in United Way’s Day of Caring. For day of caring, almost 12,000 people in King County spent the day volunteering at various nonprofits in the area. My group chose Little Bit Therapudic Riding Center. Little Bit is a 17 acre ranch that houses 40 horses that provide life-changing physical benefits to disabled children (and adults) including strengthening muscles, preventing bone weakness and joint dislocation, improving balance, and enhancing hand/eye coordination. These benefits improve a rider’s overall health, which, in turn, can increase life expectancy. They also ripple into other aspects of daily living: promoting confidence and independence, improving communication skills and peer interaction, enhancing concentration and memory, stimulating problem-solving, and providing achievable goals. I spent most of the day there cleaning the office area (an office attached to a riding arena and barn gets really dusty really quick) which isn’t the sexiest volunteer job, but one of the perks was that I was able to watch some of the children on the horses. It was really inspiring to see the effect the horses have on their riders. It made me realize I should probably give back more of my time to awesome organizations like Little Bit.

^^Most of Microsoft’s LCA Corporate team at Little Bit on 9/19/14^^

We wrapped up our volunteering a little earlier than I would normally wrap up a day at the office, so I took the opportunity to head out of Seattle toward Hood River before traffic got too bad (some of my coworkers went back to the office – over achievers! ha).

I drove back to Hood River and immediately met up with Beth and Sarah for dinner. Beth never gets Friday nights off (she manages a really delicious and popular restaurant in White Salmon and Fridays are always busy) so I had to take full advantage of the fact that she was off on a night when I was in town. We had dinner then wandered out to grab drinks with friends.

^^L->R: Sarah, Beth, Justin, Huggie and Tonya at the British Pub^^

Sarah was a grandma and went home to go to bed early(ish), but Beth and I stayed out later until we eventually wandered back to Josh and Sarah’s to crash in their spare bedroom instead of driving home #responsibledecisions

Saturday I grabbed a green smoothie (which I’m trying to drink more of) from the Juice Bros and then went to my parents’ house to snuggle with my cats for a bit. Everyone knows about Fluffy, but this is Fluffy’s Grandma, Socks. She is probably the oldest outdoor cat EVER (she is like 22), she is so sweet (except to Fluffy), she still hunts and until last year she had kittens every single year. I was convinced she was going to die when I went to college like 10 years ago, but she’s still going strong.

^^Fluffy’s grandma: Socks^^

After cat time I headed to my BFF’s Grandma’s home for Grandma Bev’s birthday party. I spent a lot of time in Middle and High School at Katie’s Grandma’s house (Katie lived with her Grandma) and she knew both of my parents when they were kids too. She has always been really wonderful to me and I don’t get to see her nearly as much as I’d like, so it was nice to chat with her and hear all the things she’s grumpy about these days ;) hint: she hates the way downtown White Salmon has evolved haha.

I had to leave the party a little early because Beth, Sarah and I had tickets to see Heart perform at Edgefield!! We went a little early to wander around the gardens and have dinner and enjoy one of the last nice days of summer outside. There were a TON of people at the show so we ended up sitting pretty far back but we still had a great time.

^^Beth and I in the garden^^

^^L->R: Me, Sarah, Beth waiting for the concert to start^^

 
^^Heart performing (thanks Sarah for the pic)^^

Sunday morning I had breakfast with Josh and Katie at Pioneer Pizza (their eggs benedict pizza is on point) before packing up and heading back to Seattle.

^^Of course I chose the cat mug at Pioneer^^

I think I mentioned that I’m on the go for the next million weekends in a row, but these busy weekends have been fun, so I’m hoping the trend will continue. I think I’m finally getting adjusted to being gone every weekend (I feel less overwhelmed this week), and I’m looking forward to lots of good things coming up like: Hops Fest, LAS VEGAS, and hunting season!

Cheers!!

Unplanned weekend in the Homeland

This last weekend I spent in White Salmon. I wasn’t planning on spending the weekend there, but my aunt passed away and her funeral was on a Thursday outside of Portland, so I figured that instead of driving all the way down there, going to a funeral, and then driving back to Seattle in the peak of Portland rush hour traffic, I’d work from home on Friday and see where to go from there.

The funeral was really nice. I didn’t take any pictures because somehow taking pictures at a funeral seems wrong. I did, however, walk in 4 minutes later. The funeral had already started. I was wearing heels, there was a wood floor, everyone turned around to see who was walking in late #embarrassment. The rest of it though was touching and it was nice to see some of my family I don’t see often enough.

After the funeral I drove back to Hood River. I met my friend Sarah for dinner and then we grabbed a beer at Double Mountain while waiting for it to get dark. There was a rumor that both Thursday and Friday nights you were supposed to be able to see the Northern Lights. We went out both nights and didn’t see anything, it was a bummer. However, night 2 we went up to my parents’ property and the view was pretty great despite the fact that the Northern Lights didn’t happen.

^^View from my parents’ property (Mt. Hood and Hood River in the distance). Photo credit: Sarah^^

Friday I worked from home but took a break to get some breakfast with Beth, her sister Emily and her sister’s boyfriend Kelly. After breakfast Beth and I walked down to the TREW RV (we visited it last year too when they were parked in Hood River – first stop on their tour) and I got a sweatshirt and a beanie. I wore the sweatshirt I bought from them last year almost every day last winter so I figured it was time to replace it.

After I was done working on Friday I got a text from Dustin asking me where I was/what I was doing. He ended up confessing that he was in Hood River to surprise me. I was SO excited! I joined him at Double Mountain for a beer and then we went to Celilo for dinner with my brother. He had to leave not long after that to go to Portland where he was staying the night so he could head to Eugene early the next morning for the UO Football game. It was so fun to hang with him for a little bit in my favorite place, though.

^^Dustin and I at Double Mountain – Excited Faces!!^^

Saturday I chilled with my Fluffy cat and then helped Sarah and Josh with Sarah’s trailer!! Isn’t it coming along SO WELL?! It will be available for rent in the Columbia River Gorge next summer if you’re interested in renting it for camping, a wedding, a photo shoot, anything! So cool, right?

^^Hitch and Roll^^

After we did some work (well Sarah worked, I just kind of helped) we chilled for a bit with Kiva before going to Henni’s for dinner and then down to the river for a few minutes of bonfire on the sandbar before calling it a night.

 ^^Is this not the most Hood River thing?^^

Sunday I drove back to Seattle the long way, through eastern Washington up to i90 and across the Snoqaulmie Pass, because of road construction on i5. It was longer but prettier and it didn’t take that much longer than normal considering there was zero traffic the entire way.

  ^^Windmills and desert in E. WA^^

This week has been crazy at work and I feel exhausted and as always I’m looking forward to the weekend. I’m crazy busy the next like 5 weekends in a row though, and I’m already exhausted from it. While I really did enjoy my unplanned weekend in the Gorge, it would have been nice to not drive a million hours and get some things done around my apartment. Whatever I guess. YOLO, or whatever the kids are saying these days!

Fulfilled by Friendship in Seattle

I spent this weekend in Seattle and instead of catching up on housework or doing things that I should get done before I’m gone every weekend for the next month or so, I spent a lot of time with friends. Dustin was down in Eugene for the Oregon vs. Michigan State football game, which left my weekend extra open. Friday night I went to my friend Ashley’s surprise birthday dinner. I’ve known Ashley since high school, she was a freshman my senior year and she was my “little sis” during homecoming week. Now she lives in Seattle with our friends Lauren and Caroline and it’s always fun to see them.

^^Friends from White Salmon (L to R): Marisol, Rachel (Ashley’s sister), Caroline, Ashley, Me and Lauren^^

Ashley’s birthday dinner was at Mamma Melina’s, an Italian restaurant in the University District. We sipped on wine and chatted while we waited for Ashley to arrive. When she walked into the back room where everyone was waiting to surprise her, she was so surprised she cried. It was really cute.

Saturday morning I took a Body Combat class at my gym. I’m not sure if I will be going back to that class, mostly because some of the instruction was a bit too violent and graphic for my liking (i.e. “pretend like you’re holding his head down and punch his face until it’s bloody”), but it was a really great workout (read: sooo hard) and I’m still sore from the class, so at least there’s that. After my class Natalie and I walked around Green Lake in the sunshine while we chatted and sipped iced coffees. 

Saturday afternoon I did some freelance work for my neighbor/friend before I put on some lipstick and headed to Natalie’s apartment to sip wine on her balcony with her and Brittan. We had some really great, juicy girl talk we hoped her neighbors didn’t overhear before heading to Ocho in Ballard for Spanish style tapas and sangria. The food at Ocho was great and both Natalie and Brittan said it was like a more delicious version of the food they ate constantly when they studied abroad in Spain (separately). After our late dinner we walked down to the Gerald for another drink. We were easily talked into staying when the owner offered to buy us another round of fancy cocktails. Things like that don’t happen often in Seattle so we had to take advantage (especially because it was the owner and not some guy at the bar expecting something in return when we were clearly just trying to have girls’ night). I almost always buy my own drinks, cover, whatever when I’m out without Dustin and I’m always surprised when I talk to people who live in other parts of the country and they say that as an unescorted girl you always just expect your drinks to be bought by random men – fill me in ladies, is this normal?! Anyway, by the time we left, we were sufficiently buzzed and Brittan and I ended the night by sitting on the sidewalk eating delicious, cream-cheesy street meat.

^^Brittan, me and Natalie, fuzzy iPhone selfie style, at the Gerald^^

Sunday was spent in Woodinville with my BFF Katie, her husband Josh and Katie’s dad, who was always one of my favorite adults growing up, and is in town visiting from Ecuador. We went wine tasting at JM Cellars, and then Alexandria Nicole Cellars to start off the day. Eventually we decided we needed food so we went to the Hollywood Tavern for a late lunch. I had the most delicious toasted quinoa veggie burger with goat cheese, pickled beets and arugula, and I spent lunch asking Katie’s dad to tell us all about Ecuador. I think I might join Katie when she goes down to visit for Christmas. Fingers crossed I can make it happen because Ecuador sounds awesome – tell me, have you been?

After lunch we stopped in the Woodinville Whiskey Co. to do a quick whiskey tasting. None of us were really in the mood to drink too much so we split a tasting. They ended the tasting with bourbon barrel aged maple syrup and honey which were both really delicious. And the vodka we tried smelled exactly like butterscotch. After Woodinville we went back to Katie and Josh’s house to play with their cats and chat for a while before I decided to head home and call it a day.

This weekend make me feel so fortunate that I have so many wonderful friends here in Seattle. You already know that I’m a total extrovert who feels fulfilled by spending time with good people, and this weekend just made me feel so happy and full. The 9-10 hours of sleep I got each night probably helped with my happiness level too! Ha!

This week I am only working Mon-Wednesday and then attending my aunt’s funeral outside of Portland, OR, on Thursday. Friday I’ll be attempting to work from home either in Portland at my cousins’ house or at my parents’ house because the thought of driving down to Oregon, attending a funeral, and then leaving Portland during rush hour and driving back to Seattle just sounded like it was too much to handle. While the circumstances are definitely not ideal, I’m looking forward to a shorter than normal work week and getting to see some family I don’t spend nearly enough time with. I hope you all have a great week!!