Ecuador days 5-9 + NYE

Oh man, I failed at blogging about Ecuador. Except for that drunk blog post. Drunk blogs are the most fun. You should do it sometime. I still haven’t gone back and re-read it though, so maybe it’s terrible and that was a fail too? Didn’t Hemingway say: “Write drunk, edit sober”? Well I say write drunk, never edit. Because, YOLO (jk about that YOLO thing.. kind of)! Anyway, all of our days in Ecuador were packed full of so many things and it took so long to blog about just one day while I was there and I wanted to tell you everything and eventually I got used to not being on my computer every day and so I just stopped writing. But it was vacation, so YOLO for the second time in one paragraph.

Anyway, let me tell you about the rest of my magical Cuenca trip.

The rest of our days in Ecuador were great. We woke up really early on day 5 and went to a Saturday Market of sorts. Katie and I ate cheesy corn pancake things for breakfast while we were still 1/2 asleep and attempted to drink coffee that was so sweet it tasted like simple syrup with a little coffee in it. Everything there was SO sweet. It was weird. And did I already tell you that after a meal, instead of giving you mints or candies, they give you cough drops? No joke. Every. Single. Restaurant. Mind blown. Anyway, on Day 5, after we went home and showered and were more awake, we had a girls’ [shopping] day with Barb and her friend Kris during which we bought all the things (Christmas presents) from street vendors and little shops. We then had lunch at a very fancy restaurant next to George Stephanopolous (yes, he is short in real life) and his wife, Ali Wentworth, and their children, and their friends. Celeb sightings in Cuenca, who would have thought? That evening we had dinner with Mike and Barb at La Herradura which is a really delicious Argentinean steak house. We then went home and drank wine and played cards against humanity.

^^one of Cuenca’s many churches, see during shopping day^^

^^Myself, Barb, Katie and Mike at La Herradura for dinner^^

Day 6 was Sunday. Barb took us to the grocery store so we could buy some Ecuadorian chocolate and some Zhumir (for gifts and for ourselves) which is a Cuencan liquor made of sugar cane. However, after loading everything into our cart, we realized that Ecuador doesn’t sell liquor on Sundays, so we were SOL. We then went home and then back out to unsuccessfully went on a quest to find a place for Katie to watch the Seahawks game. Fail #2 of the day. On our outing, though, we did find a sketchy little restaurant where we were able to try Cuy (guinea pig) which is one of the famous, traditional dish of the Ecuadorian highlands. I thought the Cuy was good, it tasted like super flavorful brown meat chicken, though there wasn’t much meat on the animal and a lot of bones. And it was a little weird to be eating something we consider a pet in the US. I was most afraid I was going to get food poisoning here out of all of the places we ate in Ecuador, as I had no idea how long the Cuy had been hanging out, on roasters, by the side of the road, in the sun… Thankfully though everyone survived without getting at all sick. I spent the rest of the day convincing a man who owned a market a few houses down to sell Katie and I giant $1 beers, and then drinking said beers while watching football/drunk blogging at the house. Good times.

^^This is the restaurant where we had Cuy. I also tried a piece of torched skin from that pig hanging out in front of the restaurant. It was actually kind of delicious^^

 
^^Cuy on the street^^

^^Chopped up Cuy feat. the head (ewww)^^

Day 7 Katie and I woke up early and attempted to go to a Zumba class in a park near Mike and Barb’s house. I was SO excited to do Zumba in Ecuador, however, Katie and I were the only ones who showed up. Bummer. While we waited we stretched and did some exercises on these weird exercise machines that were in the park that actually didn’t work anything out (you basically just swung back and forth on most of them). They were v confusing. Then we went on a walk because we thought that would be better than no exercise. It’s probably actually a good thing that Zumba didn’t happen because the air is so thin there at 8,000ft that even walking up stairs was a struggle. Plus I hadn’t exercised in about a week and a half at that point and would have been super embarrassed if I couldn’t make it through the class or passed out in the park or something ha. After our exercise fail, Mike took Katie and I to a magical spa called Piedra de Agua where we spent almost the whole day sitting in baths and saunas and covering ourselves in mud and then slathering on SPF 50 and still getting burned because I am a ginger princess, and then going into caves where there were more baths and meeting people from America who also had parents in Ecuador who knew Mike and Barb (small world). Then  Katie and I got massages and facials in caves in the side of the mountains (our entire day was under $100 because Ecuador is hella cheap, it was amazing). We finished spa day with complimentary fruit and chocolate and champagne and then went down the street to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant where we had empanadas filled with air (????!) and meats and juice and $1 beers and it was perfect. That night we had pizza at a restaurant owned by gringos and went to bed early.

^^Katie and I covered in mud at the spa^^

Day 8 was our last day in Ecuador. We tried to go shopping for a few last minute things but Katie wasn’t feeling great so we came home shortly after leaving. Later in the afternoon, though, when she was feeling better we did manage to make it out to buy our Zuhmir. While we were out we also ate “monkey sandwiches” for lunch with Mike (they call the coastal people of Ecuador Monkeys, IDK if that’s meant to be derogatory (I hope not, considering how freely they use the term), but these were coastal-style sandwiches) which were so simple but one of my very favorite things we ate in Ecuador. They were a bun filled with delicious, tender, flavorful meat (I had pork). We also put Aji Sauce on them for a little added flavor and spice. They were seriously magical. After lunch we also ate gelato courtesy of Mike. We then went back to the house, packed, and played with Stella who I seriously bonded with during the trip. She has the best personality. When we were leaving Stella FREAKED out. She was so sad to see us go, it broke my heart. Poor baby Stella.

^^Stella^^

Day 8/9 were the days of travel hell. So much travel. It started with a seriously terrifying 4.5 hour drive down the Andes Mountains. Havierre picked us up at 6pm and by the time we started descending the mountains it was dark and rainy and really foggy. It was a two lane road and Havierre was seriously passing semis blindly on corners. It was the most terrifying car ride of my life. I am so happy to be alive. When we finally made it to the airport we ordered some juice and waited for the most terrible flight of my life. We were on a huge plane with the smallest seats I’ve ever experienced. My knees were hitting the seat in front of me (how would a normal person even fit in that?!). To top things off there was a baby who cried for like 3 hours straight behind us. It was miserable. We flew into Miami where we went through customs and bought water and a blueberry donut before boarding a flight to Charlotte. I slept like a baby on that flight with no one in the seat between Katie and I. We then went straight from that flight to our next flight to Seattle. That flight was also miserable. It was 6.5 hrs long and there was a child named Maddy sitting behind me who kicked my seat (despite me asking her to stop) and squealed the entire time. She was a terror. When we finally made it back to Seattle I was SO HAPPY TO BE HOME. Yay for America, yay for people speaking English, yay for my things and my apartment and my fancy car!! Katie’s husband Josh gave me a ride back to my apartment since Dustin was headed to the airport himself to go to LA for the Rose Bowl and cabs are a bummer, also best-friend-in-law duties! By the time I finally made it home I had been traveling for 22 hours and I had just a few hours to relax before New Year’s Eve with the ladies.

Before dinner at Bastille, I chugged some coffee and put on all black (mourning the death of 2014) and Uber’d to Ballard. NYE ended up being more of a couples’ retreat + Brittan and I (esp. post dinner – dinner we were just cliquey and Natalie, Brittan, Danielle and I only talked to each other). Both Brittan and I were exhausted and less than thrilled at how the night was shaping up (everyone coupled but us and a ton of friends of friends of friends who were also couples, but stranger couples), so we ran away from the Gerald and found another bar (Percy’s which we love) where we ran into our old friend (maybe acquaintance is a better word? though he and Brittan are FB Friends…) Shane who use to work at Piecora’s when we were in law school. We took shots at Percy’s and then headed back to the Gerald where our friends were still hanging. We drank some champagne and rang in the new year there. At approximately 12:02am I ran outside, got an Uber and went home. I was jetlagged so I woke up at about 6am and proceeded to watch Gilmore Girls all day on January 1st until Brittan finally lured me from my house that evening so we could have dinner at Greenlake Bar and Grill (which is like 2 blocks from my house:). Thanks friend!

^^Pre-Going-Out-Selfie (for Dustin since he was in LA, BOO)^^

^^Natalie, Russ, Brittan and I at the Gerald before midnight^^

^^Brittan and I with some SWAG we stole from friends of friends^^

^^NYE KISS, SRY BOYZ^^

So, there you have it. The rest of Ecuador + BONUS: my NYE and NY day. Like a million days later. But later is better than never, right? Right.

KthxbyeFRIENDS!

Ecuador Day 2

After a full night’s sleep, Katie and I had some coffee while listening to a million fireworks going off nearby. The fireworks here just make noise (a lot of noise) and don’t actually put on a show like they do in the US. It’s kind of obnoxious after awhile, especially when you’re trying to sleep or when you have a dog that HATES fireworks. Ha. After coffee we headed into the main house for breakfast. Barb made eggs and toast and bacon and pineapple. We also had some Yaupon tea that Barb drinks every morning in lieu of coffee. After breakfast we called the airlines to see if there was any progress on Katie’s bags. It turned out that they made it to the Guayaquil airport, just a bit later then we did. Score!

We then headed out to the annual Cuenca Christmas Eve Parade. We met two of Barb and Mike’s friends there and wandered through the parade (note: it wasn’t moving at all at this point). There were kids dressed up with moustaches and fancy clothes and decorated horses and cars covered in decorations and floats adorned with food and whole roasted pigs and chickens (head still on). It was quite the site. There were also tons of street vendors selling delicious smelling food. We stopped for some coconut water that came straight from a coconut. It was delicious.

 ^^One of the many dead animals in the parade, which was on the back of a horse next to two girls^^

^^view down the street from the beginning of the parade^^

^^The fruit stand where we bought our fresh coconut water^^

 
^^I loved this girl’s dress^^

After a while we broke away from the crowd (there were SO many people in the streets there) and Katie, Mike and I decided to head back to the house. We hailed a cab and got inside. Cabs here don’t have seatbelts, usually cost less than $2 to take across town and are kind of terrifying because as far as I can tell there are no traffic laws and taxis honk at pedestrians and it’s a bit crazy. As Mike said, “traffic lights are merely a suggestion here.” But they’re easy to hail and super cheap so we’ve taken a lot of them. Also, Mike and Barb’s place doesn’t have a real address or a street number, so we leave it to one of them to explain in Spanish to the cab drivers where the house is. Fun times!

When we got back to the house we walked to a shop to get Katie’s passport copied and then walked back to the house to wait for Havierre who we hoped could pick up Katie’s bags from the Guayaquil airport. After we gave him the copies we walked down the street to get some lunch. Katie got a combo plate with both tripe and goat, I tried a little of each. The tripe was in a delicious peanut sauce and one bite of the goat was enough for me. I had a fried corvina fish with rice and salad and French fries which was delicious.

After lunch we caught a bus (our first one since being here) to the marcado where we bought Santa hats and some really delicious fruits neither Katie nor I had ever tried before. The marcado was the most magical place, Katie and I had a blast looking at all the fruits and trying to talk to the vendors in v broken espanol. I wanted to purchase all the fruits. Apparently we are going back on Saturday when the market will be in full swing! I will buy more then!

 
When we got back to the house Katie and I thought that it might be nice to sit on the roof deck with a few beers and read for a bit. We walked a few houses down to the market to get 4 beers (1 each for the 4 of us). They cost $1 each, you guys! They were huge and it was awesome. So we sat outside and we read and it was really nice.

After it started to get a little dark we came inside and watched the movie August: Osage County which Barb picked up that day downtown for $1.50. It looked like it was in a legit case but the DVD inside was a burned one and there were English subtitles you couldn't turn off (the movie itself was in English as well). Despite all that, it was a good, albeit intense and kind of cray cray movie. We ate some lasagna and bread during the movie. Since the altitude is so high here, bread is much different than it is in Seattle. It’s good, but different. Thinner, I think. After we finished I suggested Katie open one of her Christmas gifts early so we could enjoy it that night. I got her the game Cards Against Humanity and the four of us actually had a blast drinking wine and playing until we went to bed.

It was a great second day in Cuenca!

Travel + Ecuador Day 1

I made it to Ecuador! To get here Katie and I flew from Seattle to Phoenix, Phoenix to Miami, Miami to Guayaquil and then got in a car with a man named Havierre who drove us 3+ hours to Cuenca. Thank God for our Hoodie Pillows! It wasn’t quite that easy though. The airline made Katie check her carry on bag in Phoenix, promising that it would arrive at the baggage claim in Guayaquil with us. Well, it didn’t. And neither did the bag she checked to begin with. Both bags lost, and the people at the airport have no idea where they are. Cool. This caused a 2ish hour delay when we got to the Guayaquil airport at 4:15am, there may have been some tears, a lot of confusing conversations because we don’t speak Spanish very well and a very, very kind driver waiting patiently for us when we finally got out of immigration, baggage claim hell and then customs.

^^Katie and I with our hoodie pillows FTW^^

Havierre insisted we stop and get coffee before starting our trip so that we did. Then we drove through the outskirts Guayaquil which looked exactly like you would imagine the outskirts of a poor, Latin American city to look like. Lots of closed storefronts and stray dogs and random animals on the side of the road intermixed with banana farms and rice fields and fields of sugar cane. When we got out of the city we started seeing road side fruit stands every 1/2 mile or so. I declared that I was only eating fruit for the rest of the trip because the fruit looked so gorgeous and fresh. (spoiler alert: I haven’t followed my diet very closely yet)

About an hour into our drive we started going up, up, up a windy road. At the beginning of the drive up the mountain we were stopped by a heard of cows in the middle of the road. 

^^cows as seen from the back seat of the cab^^

This is how the last 2ish hours of our drive would go. It was a gorgeous drive and once we got stopped by  a head of cows once. We drove up the Andes Mountains and stopped along the way because: car sickness and the amazing view.

^^Andes mountains with an active volcano way in the background^^

^^Katie and I with the volcano in the background^^

We then entered a national park with a sign that said watch for Llamas (or something to that effect, see note above about needing to brush up on spanish) and I exclaimed that I would be SO excited if I saw wild llamas because that was like, the one thing I wanted to do in Ecuador.

We drove a little ways and saw a heard of wild llamas. I was so excited I couldn’t speak a real sentence. I leaned out the car window while Havierre stopped in the middle of the road so I could take pictures. They were mangy and tame and beautiful and amazing. After a few minutes we drove on. We ended up seeing two more heard of llamas and at one point I was shouting out the window “hola llamas!!” Seriously guys, it made me day.

^^HOLA LLAMA!!^

 
^^More llamas!!^^

 
^^Baby llama!^^

We also stopped at the highest point in our drive to look at the view and realize that neither Katie nor I could climb a small hill at 40,000ft elevation without feeling like we were going to pass out. Cute.

^^View from the highest point on the drive – crazy how it went from lush, tropical views to barren, mountain views within about an hour^^

Most of the drive up the mountains was on a three lane road (two lanes going up and one down), so it was fairly safe for us to pass semis going about 10 miles per hour up the mountain. However, after a while the road turned to a two lane road and Havierre was passing semis right before sharp corners. It was mildly terrifying but apparently he does that drive multiple times a week, and we made it out alive, so all is well.

When we finally arrived at Katie’s dad (Mike) and his partner’s (Barb) house we were exhausted but seeing as Katie had no bags, we decided to go with Barb to a small mall nearby so Katie could get a few essentials and we could get some breakfast complete with amazing juice made with fruits I’ve never heard of.

After shopping, we came back to Mike and Barb’s house and passed out in their guest house, where we’re staying while we’re here, for a few hours. It was glorious considering we’d probably only slept 3 hours on two separate planes up until that point.

When we woke up, we got ready and had a dirty martini with Katie’s dad before heading to the town square for dinner.

 
^^Katie and I before dinner in Mike and Barb’s gorgeous yard/garden^^

I had some chicken with rice dish for dinner that was yummy and a pineapple juice. The pineapple here is totally different than pineapple in the US, it’s almost white in color and it’s way less acidic in a really delicious way. After dinner we walked around the square, peeked in an ancient church, popped into a store to get Katie a few more clothes, then Barb and I got really amazing hot chocolates while Katie and Mike stood in line for the symphony.

^^Cuenca town square^^

Symphonies in Cuenca are fully funded by the government so it was free to watch. The symphony was really wonderful, and at the end a choir came in and sang with the symphony. They played some Christmas songs both in Spanish and English, it was really lovely to watch and listen to.

^^Choir^^

^^Cuenca Symphony^^

After the symphony was over we went back to Barb and Mike’s house to have a glass of wine and play with their dog, Stella before going to sleep.

It was a great albeit veryyyy long first day in Ecuador!

Holiday Things 2014

This past week has been full of fun holiday activities. When Microsoft bought Nokia, my legal group absorbed two members of the Nokia legal team. They were in town visiting last week so we moved all of our usual holiday festivities to last week so they could join in. This included a lunch and toy exchange (where the toys were donated to charity after) at my boss’s boss’s house, and a smaller group lunch at Maggiano’s. It was an exciting week.

In addition to my work holiday events, last Thursday Dustin and I went to Sun Liquor’s first annual Nog Ball. Sun Liquor’s Erik Champan hand makes the eggnog from fresh eggs, cream, apple brandy, bourbon, rum and sugar. Sun Liquor’s Aged Eggnog is made in small batches and aged for 30 days in glass, a process that breaks down the fats and proteins, making the nog silky smooth and delicious. The nog is usually only available on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but this year they decided to offer it at a party as well, along with some amazing Seattle snacks.

 
^^Dustin and I in our ugly Christmas sweaters^^

We had a great time eating fry bread tacos and eggnog topped Top Pot donuts, and sipping Seattle bourbon, boozy milkshakes and of course eggnog. I think I gained 6 lbs just at this one event. #worthit

On Friday evening I attended the Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure (&) Operations Holiday party as Dustin’s date. (sidebar: can we please note that the below is Dustin’s Microsoft group’s holiday party, while mine is a gift exchange in someone’s livingroom and we don’t even keep the gifts?! Must be nice to work for a group that makes money and has a substantial morale budget haha.) It was the fanciest holiday party I’d ever been to (granted, I don’t have much to compare it to) and we had a blast. It was at the Hyatt in downtown Bellevue which is huge and beautiful to begin with. There was a prefunk for Dustin’s smaller group at one of the restaurant bars in the hotel before the main party. The prefunk included chicken quesadillas and an open bar and I got to meet some of Dustin’s coworkers and their dates before the actual party began which was nice.

The actual party took up two ballrooms on two floors. There was an Alice in Wonderland theme and it included a million open bars, servers walking around with plates of really delicious snacks, an oxygen bar that may or may not have saved us from terrible hangovers the next day, a sit down dinner, a photo booth, gambling, dueling pianos, karaoke (with a live band as your backup) and at the end of the night, they brought out a tater-tot bar and it might have been the best thing that has ever happened to me.

 
^^Posing with the flamingo croquet^^

^^I put all my dollars on 4 numbers, then 17 hit and I won like $500 fake dollars and immediately gave up when I realized there was no point in playing with fake money and no prizes ha^^

^^Holiday Party Selfie^^

 ^^Awkward smilez^^

 
^^Giant flowers FTW^^

We had so much fun at the party, and we were glad that we got a room at the Hyatt so we could order $10 room service beers and then immediately fall asleep after the party. Good times.

Saturday we did a lot of Christmas shopping. We shopped in Bellevue first and then Saturday evening we headed up to the Seattle Premium Outlets to finish up things. While we were there we stopped in the Kate Spade store because they were having a crazy sale (50% off everything + and additional 20% off handbags). I scored a cross body bag, originally $248 for $35! Best score everrr. After the outlets and watching Marcus Mariota win the Heisman while snacking on fries at the Ram, we headed back to Seattle and stopped by Sephora on our way home to get some makeup for me as well as some spa-night-essentials. We then had a spa night and I fell asleep on the couch right as SNL was starting (fail).

^^Activated charcoal mud masks^^

^^Super moisturizing masks that make us look like serial killers^^

Obiv we had baby skin on Sunday. I even refrained from wearing makeup all day. I’m sure Kate really appreciated that during our dinner together that evening ;)

It’s been fun doing holiday things even if my pants are a bit tighter this week. I’m sure this work week is going to feel a million years long with no holiday events planned and as I look forward to my trip to Ecuador happening a week from today (eek!). I hope you’re all having a happy holiday season as well! xo

Thanksgiving Weekend 2014

Thanksgiving feels like it was a million years ago. I guess, technically the thanksgiving weekend started over a week ago for me. I was able to leave work v early on Wednesday which was so, so great and head down to Hood River to meet friends for a long weekend of fun.

Not long after I pulled into town Art and Amy arrived. Art and Amy had never been to “the homeland” so it was fun showing them around. We went to dinner at Solstice where we had delicious drinks and pizza. Then, because Josh and Katie still weren’t in town and we were getting a little sleepy, we went to Brian’s Pourhouse for some of their amazing spanish coffees. By the time we our boozy coffees, Josh and Katie were getting into town, so we met them at the house they rented for the weekend in downtown Hood River. We unpacked and made a game plan for the night and then went out to get some drinks and some food for Josh and Katie. We went to the Trillium first where there was fried food and Jello shots and where we toke some Voke Tabs for energy. Then we went to the River City where there were friends from high school and more shots and general fun times.

^^Me, Katie and Amy at the River City Saloon in Hood River, OR^^

After we made it back to the rental house Josh declared that he was v hungry. So Katie being a good wife and me being a good best-friend-in-law and Amy being arguably the most sober called a cab and went to get Taco Bell despite the cab driver telling us that Taco Bell was closed. Sadly, after arriving at Taco Bell we concluded that he was correct, Taco Bell was closed and that there was nowhere in town that would serve us food, so we paid the cab driver and went home empty handed and passed out.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Art, Amy and I went to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner and relaxation. My uncle Bert and his partner Joanne also joined us (which was a HUGE group compared to last year’s three (my dad, brother and myself)). We fed cows and ate food and snuggled with Fluffy and chatted and napped all day and it was amazing. We ended the day back at the rental house playing Apples to Apples.

Friday we got the best breakfast sandwiches from River Daze cafe, saw some sights, drank some local beer, visited with Katie’s grandma and ordered pizza in.

Saturday we said bye to Art and Amy (it was Art’s birthday, yay!) I had breakfast with Beth and I went over to see her new apartment and meet her new Boston Terrier puppy, Baxter, who really likes to hump everything.

^^Baxter and I^^

 
^^Beth, her sister Emily and Baxter^^

When it was time for Beth to get ready for work around 3pm I went home to see my parents and Fluffy and grab a few things and I had planned to head back to Seattle that night. However, not 5 minutes after being home, I was standing by the wood fire, talking to my mom, when out of the corner of my eye I see my dad walking up to our house covered in blood (no jokes), had a moment of panic, then he opened the door and announced that he got an elk while he was out hunting!! So I call my brother, get on some warm(ish) (read: not warm enough) clothes, and follow my dad and his BFF up winding, snowy, unpaved roads in my new(ish) car that handled it all reallyyyy well. We hiked 3 miles into the forest where my dad got the elk.

^^The point where we left our cars and started walking – Mt. Adams was gorgeous that night^^

By the time we got there it was already dark and so, so cold. I held flashlights while my dad and Lynn butchered the rest of the elk (they’d already packed out the head and a front quarter). My brother was making trips back and forth with his pack full of meat to the wheelbarrow we left about a half mile back on a dirt, logging road. I was honestly shocked when we walked up to the elk in the clear-cut where my dad got it. It’s hide was laid out, the front and hind quarters had been removed but the remaining body was enormous. There were also random piles of guts everywhere. It was insane. There was so. much. meat. (I will spare you the pictures, because yes, they exist). My dad is always really adamant about getting all of the meat off of the carcass because an animal gave its life and you must be respectful of that. Unfortunately it is impossible to take the entire carcass (rib cage, spine, guts and hide) back with us because of the sheer size of the animal. Some bears and coyotes and ravens will feast on those.

The hike in took about an hour, the rest of the butchering took about an hour and the hike out took about an hour. It was approximately 25 degrees out. My brother ended up hiking all the way out with a bag full of approximately 150lbs of elk meat pieces (from the torso of the elk – rib meat, tenderloin, back straps, etc.) on his back. He just went as quick as he could toward the cars. My dad, Lynn and I walked more slowly with the wheelbarrow full of probably 400lbs of meat (the other front quarter and two hind quarters). I carried gear and held flashlights for everyone while my dad and Lynn took turns pushing the wheelbarrow (note: both of them are in their mid 60s). One of them would push until they were about to collapse/pass out (Lynn) or until their wrists and shoulders hurt too badly (my dad) and then they would switch off. It was a really long walk. We were all really tired and cold on the way back. We eventually made it back to the cars we loaded the meat into the back of Lynn’s truck and my brother and I got into my car and turned my heat and seat warmers on high. We were still cold when we got home about 1/2 hour later. We followed my dad and Lynn back down the winding, snowy, dark roads and at one point their truck pulled over. Lynn hadn’t taken his heart medication, had already packed meat out that day, hadn’t eaten or drank any water and was feeling like he was going to pass out. My dad drove the rest of the way and we got him some water when he got back to our house to hang the meat. I was legit scared he was going to die. He didn’t. A lesson in not pushing yourself too hard. Stubborn man, you!

^^My dad, Lynn and my dad’s elk head^^

^^Proud dad and his elk head^^

After the meat was hung and Lynn was safely home I tried and tried to get warm by the fire and check my phone because I finally had cell reception again. I was pretty much dead. My mom saw the three of us being super pathetic and made us some delicious comfort food for dinner – this white turkey gravy stuff over toast and asparagus. I saw her put an entire stick of butter into that gravy stuff. My dad brother and I ate all of it. No fucks were given about health.

Because all of my things were in Hood River, I headed back to town, met Sarah and Laura for a quick drink, finally started to warm up, went and swooped up Josh and Katie to meet Beth at the Red Carpet for a “White Salmon Takeover.” We had a really fun time seeing people from high school and then went back to the rental house to pass the fuck out.

The next morning I met my mom, dad and brother at Nora’s Table for breakfast because it was my mom’s birthday. It’s not a place my family would usually go because it’s in Hood River and it’s kind of fancy/yuppy, but my parents loved it and I think they’ll go back which is a total win. After breakfast I headed back to Seattle and had one of the most stressful drives back ever I’ll tell you the short version because oh my this is a lot of words in one post: there was a hit and run/car chase that was occurring IN traffic, on I5-North during which I almost got hit by the runaway car and it was terrifying and I wanted to cry/had terrible anxiety after, and then two cars almost hit me while I was in their blind spot after that. Then Dustin and I ate Chinese food and I felt better. The end!

Thanks and Friends Giving (and Receiving)

I am getting v excited for Thanksgiving. I’m most excited: for the extra two [paid] days off work, to see friends, to snuggle my Fluffy cat, to see my family, to be in White Salmon & Hood River, and to eat my mom’s stuffing. So much goodness, I can’t wait!

This past weekend my friend Ambur hosted a Friendsgiving at her house. Before this weekend I had never been to a Friendsgiving (total loser status?). I volunteered to make pumpkin pies with bourbon whipped cream and bring some wine too. It was so lovely to share a delicious meal with good friends. I loved trying everyone’s favorite Thanksgiving dishes and hearing what everyone is thankful for. Most of the people at the Friendsgiving were fellow lawyers (we met in Law School), so a lot of what we were thankful for was similar. I am most thankful for a job I like, an apartment that I feel safe in, good people in my life and my Fluffy cat.

Ambur had a Thanksgiving tablecloth she procured from Target which you could color on. Natalie took it upon herself to write a satirical master list of all the things our friends are thankful for. I took a picture which is borderline NSFW but also borderline hilarious:

So, tell me, what are your Thanksgiving plans?

And am I a huge loser for never having been to Friendsgiving? Or is that normal?

And, what is your favorite Thanksgiving food? Mine is stuffing, for sure. Pumpkin Pie comes in a close second, though.

Cheers to 28 Years!

^^Blurry birthday bar pic + dance moves^^

Well, I’m 28 now. I’m officially in my late 20s. That happened.

Last Friday was my birthday. Friday birthdays are awesome. Dustin made me a breakfast sandwich and had it waiting for me when I woke up, my boss Trisha and my coworker Becky took me to coffee, Dustin gave me treats to take to the office, I got flowers and cards and more treats, I ate a quesadilla with guacamole for lunch and I got to leave work a little early for some acupuncture.

Dustin and I had birthday dinner at Delancy which I’d been dying to try. Of course there was a wait, so we went to the adjoining cocktail bar, Essex, for a drink and some duck fat potatoes which I wanted to eat a million of. For dinner we shared a delicious sausage pizza with the brightest, tastiest tomato sauce. It was good.

After dinner we met some friends at Ed’s Kort Hause, which is this really dive-y bar on Phinney Ridge that smells weird and has a jukebox serves exotic meat burgers and it’s kind of amazing. I could say so many things about the owner/bartender, Ed, who served me a birthday shot of his “finest tequila” which tasted and smelled exactly like Monarch. Ew. We had a good time there, though. We always do (ex: Dustin and I stopped there for a drink the night of our first date, we celebrated NYE 2012-13 there, Ed Jr. once bought us drinks, etc.).

I spent a good amount of Saturday nursing a hangover. Cheers to getting older. Cheers to 28 years!

Birthday Week

It’s my birthday week! I might be the only person who has been celebrating my birthday week, but it’s been a good one so far, so I’m just going with it.

Saturday: my cousin Tad and his girlfriend Kelsey came up for a visit. I met them at their hotel downtown Seattle and we went to see the Gum Wall before wandering into Pike Brewing Company for a beer. We spent the rest of the evening watching some football with friends, catching up and talking about cats.

Sunday: I roasted a chicken:

And then I made Bhan Mis with the chicken I just roasted:

My Banh Mi recipe: 

• Crusty bread (I used baguette)
• Spread on some Sriracha mayo (I do 2 parts mayo to 1 part Sriracha – I don’t like spicy or mayo but this is my favorite, don’t skip on this part)
• Layer on some chicken,
• Pickled carrots,
• Red onion, and
• Cilantro.

So good!

I also made stock with the chicken carcass.  Pro tip: if you make stock in your crock pot, and you accidentally leave it on high for like 13 hours, the stock will be incredibly rich. I wasn’t disappointed.

Monday: Monday was super normal. I worked, I went to Zumba, you know, the usual.

Tuesday: I went to Katie’s house after work for dinner and we ended up booking flights to Ecuador(!!!!!!!!!) to visit Katie’s dad for Christmas! Happy early birthday to meeee!

Tuesday was a high this week for sure. There’s just something about draining your bank account on a flight (OMG I can’t believe I did that) that really puts you in a great mood.

Wednesday: I went to Zumba after work and my Zumba teacher made me the Zumba birthday princess. It was so fun. My neighbor/Zumba friend brought cupcakes too and we danced to Luke – It’s Your Birthday.

 
After Zumba I ran to Acupuncture (like straight from Zumba, ew). Have we talked about Acupuncture yet? It’s seriously like some sort of miracle cure for everything. Last night I was having some sinus issues + allergies for literally almost a year straight, so my Acupuncturist put needles straight in my face. I was legit cat status. But you know what, it helped.

^^red faced from my fitnesssss #dontjudgeme^^

Thursday: And then there is today. My last day of 27. Nothing amazing has happened yet, but Dustin is supposed to make me dinner tonight so there’s that!

I have dinner and drink plans tomorrow night and I’m looking forward to that, mostly because calories don’t count on your birthday. Or do they when you get into your late twenties and your metabolism starts slowing down? I’ll have to consult someone older than me and I’ll get back to you on that one! Ha. Also, late twenties… YIKES! I guess that’s happening tomorrow… Sooo…

Halloween Weekend 2014

Halloween at work is always fun. My group decorates our hall a few days before Halloween and on the day of, Employees bring their kids in to trick-or-treat at each of the offices. This year, though, it was pouring rain outside on Halloween, which fell on a Friday. I don’t know if those were contributing factors, but there weren’t that many kids trick-or-treating through our halls. It actually worked out fairly well for me because I was able to sneak out of the office a little early on Friday to head across the mountains to a cabin (go to :43 – the Marianne Lodge) 8 other friends and I rented near Leavenworth.

When I arrived I claimed one of the eight bedrooms(!!!) and helped Ambur put up decorations for the Halloween party she planned that night. Everyone else arrived shortly after and we got to work making a taco dinner in the huge kitchen. Friday night we ate dinner, put on our costumes, danced around in the fog (there was a fog machine), hot tubbed and ate candy and then late night mac and cheese.

^^Meli as a hamster, Brittan as a cat, Natalie the Unicorn and me as an owl^^ 
^^Rob as the 90s, Pat as Inspector Gadget, Me as an Owl, Natalie the Unicorn, Adam as a Russian Wrestler, Ambur as Hulk Hogan(!!!), Brittan the Cat, Meli the Hamster, Abbey the dog with an elf hat and Paul as the Cheshire Cat^^

^^Adam and Ambur mid wrestle-mania^^

Saturday I woke up and made everyone biscuits and gravy and eggs and coffee for breakfast. Some people were a little worse off than others but after lounging around for a while, a few of us decided it would be fun to go into Leavenworth proper to explore a bit. Neither Brittan or I had ever been so we were especially excited. Paul drove 5 of us into town and the 20 mile ride there was so brutal, we were all SO car sick by the time we got into town, especially Natalie, Brittan and I in the back seat. We parked and walked to the first brewery we saw to get a round of beers to cure us.

^^Brittan, Myself and Natalie at Icicle Brewing Company^^

After our beers we walked around and decided that we would all buy ONE “jewel”. Our jewels didn’t have to be an actual jewel but could be anything we wanted. We actually kind of failed at this task in the end but it was fun to look around at the shops for potential jewels. I wanted a soft pretzel (not hard in a Bavarian town, right?). Natalie and I stopped into a bakery advertising soft pretzels and got the shittiest soft pretzel of our life. So disappointing.

^^Rob, Brittan, Natalie (+ shitty pretzel) and Paul in downtown Leavenworth^^

After walking a bit further Natalie announced she needed a sausage, everyone else was game for another beer so we stopped into the Sausage Garten with more outdoor seating, heat lamps, beer, soft pretzels, a million types of mustard and sausages. It ended up being an excellent idea because everything we had was delicious and the delicious soft pretzel at the Sausage Garten totally rectified the first.

^^Brittan and Natalie with their delicious food + beers^^

After lunch we walked around until Rob found a beer mug that would be his “jewel” and then we headed to Safeway to pick up some more beer and firewood before heading back to the cabin to nap and watch friends in our cabin’s movie theater. We eventually went downstairs to make more tacos for dinner. Afterward we were all still in a lazy mood so someone turned on the TV and found a magical show on TLC called “Sex Sent Me tot he Emergency Room”. It was hilarious watching the show all together commenting because it was SO ridiculous. Additionally, we saw about 50 ads for a dating site called FarmersOnly.com with the tag line: City folks just don’t get it! HAHA! We then immediately tried to get each other to sign up for the site because we are very mature like that. Fun times!

Brittan finally convinced a few of us to get into the hot tub and upon getting into a cold hot tub remembered that Natalie got too hot in the hot tub the night before and decided it would be a great idea to turn it down to 92 degrees then forget she turned it down. Fail. We still lasted in the lukewarm water for longer than I expected before getting out to go to bed.

Sunday morning we were able to enjoy some extra time in the cabin thanks to daylight savings time ending. Ambur made us all waffles and we drank coffee and cleaned. A few of us girls took a break to take a walk around the property too, which was gorgeous:

^^The Wenatchee River^^

Afterward we drove back home. Brittan drove with me and Natalie and Meli caravanned behind us. We stopped at a random brewery along the way that ended up being very weird and small and disappointing. We then decided we needed dumplings when we got back to Seattle and stopped at U Vil to satisfy our need before splitting ways.

It was a great weekend, and the low-key-Halloween will go into the books as one of my favorites (up there right behind the Halloweens Dustin and I have spent together because those ones are always so fun). Cheers!