Extra long weekend adventures in the Gorge

Almost two weeks ago I went back to White Salmon/Hood River for the weekend. My friend Beth was moving back from Boise (and into my parents' house) and it was her birthday weekend so some celebrations were in order.

I drove back to the Gorge on Thursday after work. When I got to town I met Sarah, Gaby and Launa for a drink at Brian's Pourhouse. After it was time for Sarah and Launa to go to bed, Gaby and I headed to Double Mountain to say hi to Josh and ended up hanging out with him for a while when he got off work, before calling it a night.

Friday I worked from home at my parents' house. I took advantage of my lunch break and spent it cleaning out my childhood room for Beth. I found so many Beanie Babies and ridiculous clothes and funny pictures when I was cleaning out my room. Oh memories! Needless to say I had a big load of things to go to Goodwill.

And of course Fluffy was there to keep me company during my cleaning.

 

Friday night Sarah joined me at Everybody's Brewing for some "networking," then Sarah, Josh and I talked about life and our futures over dinner at Solstice. Some commune dreaming happened for sure!

 

Saturday I got a haircut and then met Beth and her boss, Michael at Chip's for a beer as soon as she got into town. Nothing says "welcome to town" like a beer at a dive bar, amiright?

 

 

After we drank our beer and Beth settled into my parents' house and opened her birthday presents we headed down to Henni's for a welcome back birthday dinner with the crew.

 

 

After dinner we all headed across the river and met back up at Double Mountain to watch some friends play some music (Smoke on the Water) before heading to River City then eventually Jack's. Needless to say, Beth and I ended up having a sleepover at Josh and Sarah's.

 

^^alcohol induced inside jokes with some of my girlfriends^^

 

The next morning we woke up to a crazy and surprising amount of snow. We decided to walk to breakfast at River Daze while we waited for the roads to be plowed and our hangovers to subside.

 

 

 ^^Photo cred: Sarah (and her new awesome camera)^^

 

After breakfast Beth and I braved the roads to my parents' house. We stopped at Thriftway to get snacks along the way because we didn't anticipate being able to leave again once we got home. The drive up Snowden Rd. was super sketchy but eventually we made it and decided we were going to stay in for the rest of the day. There was no way I was driving back that night - the freeway from Hood River to Portland was under an ice advisory (oh yeah, after all the snow the freezing rain started immediately) and traction devices were required. Snowed in. I can't say I was too sad about having to work from home Monday (only a little).

 

^^My parents' road^^

 

We spent the evening watching the Oscars with my dad, hunting for ciders in the snow (funny story, we bought a 6-pack of ciders at the store and put them in the snow outside to keep them cold. My parents' have a German Shepard "puppy" who likes to hop over his fenced in area and come up to the house. He jumped over the fence, came up, stole the ciders and hid them in the snow in random places... After it happened we couldn't for the life of us figure out where they went. Such a trouble maker!), and being total fat kids.

 

I spent Monday working from home, eating breakfast with Dylan and Beth, and taking a break for a lunchtime beer with friends at Double Mountain #dontjudgeme the view was so pretty. That night, after work, I finally headed back to Seattle. It was so nice to be able to be "home" for an extended period of time, even if it wasn't totally planned and I ran out of clean clothes. Ha! I'm planning on heading back this weekend for the Double Mountain anniversary party (and because Dustin wants to go to Portland and we can split gas/driving) and I can't wait.

 

 

 





Katie and Josh's Wednesday Wedding

Yesterday I got off of work at 2, picked up Katie, took her to get her bridal bouquet, took her to my house and we got ready for her wedding. You guys, yesterday Katie got married!

After Katie's mom met us at my apartment and we had fixed our hair and makeup, and had a few sips of pink champagne, we drove to the courthouse downtown Seattle.

The only time Katie freaked out all day was when we were sitting in terrible i5 rush hour traffic on the way to the courthouse. Josh called her and said that they were waiting, and ohmygoshwhyarentyouhereyet?! And there was a moment of "I'm not going to make it to my own wedding" panic, but otherwise things were happy and totally smooth.

When we finally got downtown I dropped Katie and her mom off, found a really lucky parking spot on the street, sprinted up a hill in my dress and heels in the pouring Seattle rain while being laughed at by a parking attendant, and made it in time for a few pre-wedding pictures.

the wedding party: me, Katie, Josh and the best man, Will 

Katie and Josh right before they said "I do"

 



After waiting a few minutes the judge took us up to the top floor of the courthouse where there was an incredible view. She performed a short, sweet ceremony and it was perfect.

After everything was done at the courthouse we headed to Staple and Fancy for and incredible multi-course dinner.

The dinner was a special chef's menu served family style. We started dinner with bread, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar while we sipped on delicious drinks. The first real course was a ton of appetizers which were all interesting and totally delicious (think: white fish crostini, chilled asparagus and ramp soup, house made ricotta with peas, etc.). We then had a pasta course which consisted of a clam pasta and a chicken ravioli. The third course was the most amazing pork any of us had ever tasted and not-at-all-fishy bass. Before we left we enjoyed wedding cake, which was topped with Katie's grandmother's cake topper from her 25th wedding anniversary. It was just all so fun, low-stress, and perfect.

I'm so happy for Katie and Josh (my new best-friend-in-law ha). Hooray!!

P.S. This might sound totally weird but Wednesday weddings are awesome, and it somehow seemed extra special. I also loved that there were only a few of us there so we all got to really enjoy each other's company. Katie and Josh decided they wanted to "elope" a few months ago, after they started planning a bigger wedding and decided it was too much stress. They chose yesterday (Wednesday, May 15th) because it's their two year dating anniversary and they're heading to Ecuador this weekend, so that trip can act as a honeymoon until Katie's grad school schedule calms down a bit.

Whistler and Other Goodness

Last weekend Dustin and I went to Whistler, BC, with our friends Art and Amy. It's a little over a 4 hour drive from Seattle (maybe more depending on the line at the border and traffic), so we left directly from work on Friday afternoon.

When we got to Whistler, it was snowing!! (Side note: this was particularly exciting because it has not snowed at all in Seattle this winter). When we got there we were all hungry and excited about the snow, so we quickly went to our rooms to drop off our things then met back up to grab some dinner. We were staying right in Whistler Village, so it was super convenient to be in the middle of all the awesome shops and restaurants.

Dustin and I outside our Hotel right when we got to Whistler - it's SNOWING! 

After dinner we grabbed a few drinks at one of the nearby bars. I was being a total baby and was super tired around 11pm so we called it a early night and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning everything was BEAUTIFUL. It was sunny with a little fresh snow covering everything; we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. Dustin and I grabbed coffee in the village before meeting up with Art and Amy at the Scandinave Spa.

Me in the village

The Scandanive Spa was amazing and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Whistler. It might have been the most beautiful place I've ever visited. We took advantage of the baths while we were there, which none of us had done before. The outdoor area is completely silent and you go from a warm bath, a sauna or a steam room (where you sit for 15 minutes), into an icy cold bath or shower (for 15 seconds), then you go relax by the outdoor fireplace or in a solarium which looked out into the beautiful, snowy surrounding mountains, before repeating.

At first being totally silent and disconnected (no cell phone, what?!) was really difficult, but after the first round of hot, cold, relax, I felt peaceful and relaxed. It was an amazing experience.

source

(because there were no pictures allowed -- just imagine lots of snow on the mountains and a light dusting on all of the trees around the pools, swoon)

 

After the spa we were all ready for lunch. We grabbed Flat Stanley (side note: my co-worker's nephew sent her Flat Stanley for a school project where she was supposed to color Flat Stanley and take him places and take pictures with him. She took a few pictures with Stanley, but was running out of ideas, so, we printed out 3 more Flat Stanleys for my co-workers and I to take to our various weekend destinations with us. I made my flat Stanley a ginger (with a moustache), put him in a Canadian tuxedo and a beret and took him to Canada with me) from the hotel and headed to Earl's where we had lunch and a round of drinks.

 

Dustin was a little jealous of our love...

 

After lunch we walked around the village for a while before stopping for more drinks with Flat Stanley (don't worry, we also took Flat Stanley to places like the Olympic circles, the gondola, etc. for some 1st grade appropriate pictures). We MAY have had a little too much posing with Flat Stanley...

 

Apparently Flat Stanley and I BOTH like beergaritas, who knew?

 

That night Dustin and I went to a free Nas concert (part of the World Ski and Snowboard Festival) where I re-lived some of my favorite high school jams. We were really far away and it was pretty cold out, so we didn't stay for the whole thing, but I mean, who needs Coachella when you can go to a free rap concert in the snow in Whistler? (just kidding, totes jealous of all the kids at Coachella).

 

 

The next day we had a lazy morning, we walked around and found crepes to eat for breakfast, I got a coffee, then we hit the road to head back to America.

 

Amy, Art and Dustin in Whistler

 

It was a pretty awesome weekend.

 

I haven't been feeling too great since I got back, though. I think I have some severe allergies going on (runny, faucet nose, sneezing, itchy eyes, cough, sinus pressure, tired, you know, the works). Despite that, though, my week has been super happy. My friends Lisa and Natalie moved into a gorgeous apartment just a few blocks away from me and I couldn't be happier. I love the idea of being able to pop over, even if for just a few minute, all the time. Also, my friend Beth was in town for a few days this week (Yay! the only thing that could have made me happier than having Beth in town would be if Marissa could have joined as well)!

 

 

The first night she was in town, we went to dinner at the Latona pub with Beth's friends from Boise, and then went to see the Gaslight Anthem play a show at the Neptune. The other night we had low key a girls night complete with lots of episodes from the first season of Girls, a bottle of wine, painting our nails and eating ice cream. It was perfect. 

 

And now, I'm looking forward to spending the weekend in Seattle, hanging out with some of my favorite people and trying to feel completely normal (and not stuffy) again.

 

Happy Friday, friends!





NYE 2012

The night of New Year's Eve 2012 was a good night. I unfortunately had to work during the day (oh the perks of being the new person on the team). But don't worry,  Dustin and I left work early to nap and prepare for our evening, which for me meant putting on lots of sparkles and hairspray, and for Dustin it meant getting the watch I bought him for Christmas re-sized.



At 8pm we met our friends at the Stumbling Goat Bistro, a super cute restaurant in our neighborhood we had been wanting to try for a while. When we found out that they were having a delicious looking pre-fixed, three course dinner, with a wine pairing, we convinced our friends to meet us there before heading out on the town to ring in the new year.

I wish I would have taken pictures of the meal, because everything was perfectly presented, delicious, and the wine pairing were great. But I didn't, so you'll just have to imagine my truffle razor clam chowder, my truffle parsnip gnocchi with shaved winter truffles, and my coconut cake.

After dinner we headed next door to a divey bar, where we intended to stop for one drink. But, before we knew it, we were drinking cheap champagne and ringing in the new year. Needless to say Dustin and I walked home after that. And, thinking ahead and being super smart, I put boots and leggings in my car to change into for the chilly walk home #genius

I think the night turned out so well because neither Dustin or I put any expectations on it. Just a low key, but fun (and delicious) night. I'll try to keep that in mind for next year. That and the warm clothes in your car thing.

Cheers to the new year, friends!

apparently I get excited about food

Hi bloggy (and real) friends, I miss you.

Life has been all: rain and frozen meals and studying (oh the studying!). In short, super boring. And did I mention super rainy (Juneuary? Thanks, Seattle)? I did, right?

But here are some of the highlights as of lately (warning: “highlights” during bar prep may not be that exciting for the rest of you, but I miss you, so meh):

My caffeine addiction/tolerance is steadily increasing. No surprise there, amiright? The other morning after physical therapy, but before bar prep class, I treated myself to a latte and a biscuit from stumptown and my gosh it was amazing. Such a treat to switch it up from my usual black coffee in amazing unicorn mug (thanks Marissa, I love it and I use it every day).

Hint: most of my most exciting things lately are food related. Well, non-frozen meal related, anyway. Like the picture above; last Thursday night Dustin brought me Mexican food from my favorite taqueria. Because he knows what a girl needs after a long day of studying: some smooches and a bunch of cheese and guacamole. The perfect combo, I’m telling you! I was bummed when he left and my food was gone and I had to go back to essay writing. I really, really cherish my breaks these days.

AND on Saturday night I got to socialize with someone other than Natalie and Brittan (at bar prep slash the library study room AKA our “home”, if you can call that socializing) and Dustin. I went to dinner with Art and Amy (and of course Dustin too). We at pizza. Then we played darts. It was perfect. I felt guilty for leaving an essay un-written, but that break improved my mood so much it was worth it. I’ll catch it up sometime this week.

So yes, that’s it as of lately. Please tell me abut all the fun things in your lives. I want to live vicariously though you. And I apologize in advance if it takes me like a week to write you an e-mail back. Or do anything normal people can do in a reasonable amount of time (I don’t even want to talk about my hair these days… sheesh).

the last law school prom

Last weekend I went to my very final Law School Prom (more formally called Barrister’s Ball). I’m pretty sad that my prom days are over (potentially forever) because if you know me even a little bit you know I loveee prom. Especially grown up, open bar, photo booth, big-puffy-dress-less prom. #so good

For my very last ever law school prom Dustin booked us a room down on the water (right across the street from the venue) at the Marriott. Our room had awesome Puget Sound and downtown views and it was just extra fancy (probably because we got upgraded).

Before we had to start getting ready for the night, Dustin took me to Elliot’s for this seafood FEAST of a dinner. I have never seen/eaten so much amazing seafood in my life. We got some tower of seafood called the “celebration feast” or something, and it was probably the best seafood I’ve ever eaten.

 
I probably shouldn’t have eaten as much as I did considering I had to fit into my dress soon after (good thing it was flowy) but nom. Oh and I had a delicious vodka martini. Double nom.

After we felt sufficiently fancy and sufficiently stuffed (on probably the most expensive dinner I’ve ever eaten – thanks again boyfriend), we walked back to the hotel along the waterfront. Then we got ready (well, mostly I got ready and Dustin showered and put on some clothes and sat on the deck and had some whisky, but you know how that goes, am I right friends?)

also we may have taken this really emo myspace picture while we were waiting for Mike and Natalie…

P.S. I’m in love with my prom lipstick (“heatwave” by NARS – apparently it looks good on everyone!! Natalie even tried it on when she got to the hotel and we looked good ):

Anyway, as I was saying, Mike and Natalie (one of my law school BFFs) came over for prefunking and FRIENDSHIP!! and pictures too…

Natalie and Mike: 
Dustin and I:
and did I mention we ALSO took awkward prom pictures?!! Because really, what prom would be complete without them?

Friendship and Prom together = love!

And then we drank some champagne and we (I) got yelled at by the neighbors for being too loud and then we hurried across the street to PROM!

Dustin and Natalie: 
My roommate Erin and I waiting in line for some drankz:
Dustin and Mike cooling off on the balcony after some dancing:

The rest of the night was spent taking so many pictures in the photo booth (those will come as soon as the link is posted), having drinks, being silly with my most favorite person and the bestttt date, me dancing alone to dub step and drop it low (for Marissa and Beth, obvi) while my friends watched… thanks guys… ha! Dancing with my friends, then at the end of the night, dancing and hugging and jumping up and down with Dustin to things like “I wanna dance with somebody” – which I’m pretty sure will FOREVER remind me of this night.

Oh you guys, it was SUCH a good night.

I wish you all could have been there too.

Native American Food & Fancy Hair

Recently something wonderful happened: a Native American food truck called “off the rez” opened in Seattle!! It changes locations depending on the day and time, but yesterday it was parked in Wallingford near my house. Obviously I text Dustin to ask if that’s what he wanted to have for “date night” dinner (I had also rented “the Rum Diaries” from the RedBox – we had been trying to rent it for a few weeks but every time we checked it was gone so when I saw it yesterday before class I picked it up) – I figured take out and a movie sounded like the perfect date night after a stressful week. He agreed, so I picked us up some food and headed over to his place.

The food was amazing. We had fry bread tacos (pork and chicken), which were like really good regular Mexican tacos, but on fry bread instead of tortillas. Along with that Dustin had a plain fry bread and I had one with Nutella (OMG just thinking about it…) on it. SO good. And I’m not even just saying that because it’s the food of my Native American PEOPLE! I promise. Dustin liked it too and he’s super white ;)

I can’t wait to eat at the truck again soon. If you’re a Seattle resident I highly recommend you check it out.

After inhaling my food (no pictures, too busy eating and YUMMMing), we watched the Rum Diaries which wasn’t what I was expecting. Which led to me being mildly bored during parts – I think because I was expecting more of a comedy and I kept waiting for the comedy, but it never came – but reflecting back, it was pretty entertaining. Have you guys seen it? What did you think?

Overall though, last night = another date night success!

This morning I decided to get all fancy for work. Not really fancy. More like I saw some easy looking braided hair style on pinterest (yeah that’s right, I was so bored in class yesterday I was actually looking at the pinterest website – even though I usually just use pinterest as a pretty bookmark page for all my recipes and things) and I wanted to try it, so I braided and twisted and this is what happened in about 5 minutes:

 
To do this I just parted my hair into thirds in the back and made three low braids. I then rolled the middle braid into a bun and secured it with bobby pins before making the other two into buns, securing them with more pins and tucking their ends under the first one (on the bottom). Then I pinned my bangs (can I even call them that anymore? They’re pretty grown out) back and called it good. Fancy pants, right? And totally simple.

Anyway that has been the last 24 hours for me. Now I’m home from work and planning on doing some homework for the rest of the afternoon then hopefully relaxing a little later (a glass of wine or a beer sounds really delicious). I think it will be another low key night because I have class all morning tomorrow – but on the bright side, it’s my last Saturday class and if I can manage to show up (on time) tomorrow, I’ll have successfully completed 1 credit this semester. Yay!

I hope you are all having a lovely Friday and I hope that you have a few fun plans for the weekend. Cheers!

kitties and ponies and creatures of the sea

Remember that one time when I was gifted a GIANT heart filled with goodies and I was all “I’ll tell you about it later” and then I didn’t? Yeah, whoops!

Well, I’m telling you now that this GIANT heart was filled with some GEMS! And it was adorned with some too (pony and kitten stickers ALL over? Check). Let me show you what was inside:

 Random cat figurine? Yep.

 Kitten BFF candy? Double yep. We decided I’m the kitten on the left and Dustin is the one on the right because he is bigger and fluffier and clearly I have been snacking on something because my mouth is all dirty. I’m always hungry. Fact. This has all been deeply contemplated ha.

Getting jealous yet? I would be…

also in the box: pony toys, lots of candies (I’ve basically devoured all the reeces PB cups because I mean, how could I not?) a hot wheels rapist van, bubbles (BUBBLES!!?) $1.99 sexy time dice (ex: “make out” “in the closet” = yeah that definitely happened) and other TREASURES!

Also that night we had a rad dinner (you’re welcome boyfriend) – in case you were wondering. You were, right?

 I forced Dustin to shuck the oysters because that’s MAN WORK! And also the shells smelled really gross. But the insides were SO good.

 We ate Skillet’s Bacon Jam – which was jammy and bacony and weirdly good. Like BBQ Bacon spread? – that I gifted to Dustin

 And also we ate lots and lots of crab and we drank champagne and it was delicious.Even if I did get a $44 parking ticket while I was inside the seafood market. WHATEVER IT WAS ALL FOR LOVE!

Anyway, I hope your hearts are satisfied now that you know what was in the box (that’s what she said?).

I’m going to go finish getting ready for work and ask the mice men (exterminators, whatever) when they’ll be done catching mice so I can go to work.

Oh and PS HAPPY FRIDAY LOVELIES! 

Date Night + The Orange Dress

Right now we have an exterminator at our house. Finally. Buh Bye mice. OVER YOU!

And earlier I got a job. For the semester. It’s not really law related. But it’s a job. So yay for dollars. And a boss who seems pretty rad (and thanks for the tip, Beth). I start Monday.

Also, in case you were wondering (clearly you were), last night was Date Night. I love date night.

Date night isn’t every Thursday, or even ever week, but when everything aligns and it works out, date night is my favorite night.

(especially when I get to wear a pretty (read: totally impractical for January in Seattle) new date night dress, courtesy of Dustin and Christmas)

P.S. below is what happens after I have two beers + a new dress “TAKE A PICTURE (or 5) WITH ME IN THE MIRROR!”

Isn’t it a cute dress? And sort of inappropriate (whoops)? I like.

Anyway, the night started with some guacamole (and other mexi delights, but obvi I was most excited about the guacamole because it’s basically my favorite food) delivered to my dining room by Dustin.

“a pronto guac for my sweetheart. I’m such a gentleman bringing you fancy mealz” –text from Dustin last night (also he doesn’t normally say things like that – except for maybe the fancy mealz part)

After our mexican feast, we went back to Dustin’s neighborhood to grab a beer.

And guys, guess what I found at Naked City?!

DOUBLE MOUNTIAN’S NEW WINTER IPA - GRAVATAR!! It was MOST exciting. Double Mountain beers are my very favorite beers. And they’re hard to find anywhere but the taproom in Hood River. So obviously I had two. Then I made Dustin take the above mirror pictures with me. 

Anyway, date night was so good. I love mid-week Dustin hang out sessions. They’re always a superfun break for the usual school/homework thing I normally do all week.

The 25the Year

Today I'm 25.

My birthday has been like this: I went to my first class, contemplated doing McDs for lunch, didn't, then went to Zoka to study. I got some free birthday coffee from the barrista. It was good. I'm skipping my last class to go to dinner with Dustin (I feel kind of bad about the skip, but I haven't missed like any class this semester, minus the missed class when I got in my car accident, so it's whatever). We're going to Tom Douglas's Palace Kitchen. I've never been and I'm excited. We're going early (hence me skipping my class) because his new mattress is being delivered between 8 & 10pm tonight. What a random, stupid delivery time, right?

Anyway, here are some pictures from my birthday party (which was on Saturday night):

Sorority Sisters + Rochelle at the prefunk 

Dustin and I 

The No Boyz Allowed Club (ha): Brittan, Natalie, Me & Lisa at Leny's

XXOO everyone
+ thank you for all the birthday love! It means so so much to me!

Tuesday Randomness

1. Yesterday I went to Dustin’s house to make us dinner. My dad gave me some salmon that he caught in the river (because that’s what he does, man things). And it needed to be cooked before it went bad and I felt like a terrible waster. Plus I never buy salmon because it’s expensive, so I figured I should take advantage. I went over to make us dinner, also because also my dad doesn’t understand single size (or I should say Rebeka size) portions. So our one piece of salmon fed both Dustin and I with leftovers (as I had anticipated). Anyway, I baked the salmon, made some asparagus and brown-rice-pasta, put them both together with a light creamy sauce then put the salmon on top. It was good (tooting my own horn, sorry) I win at quick Monday night dinner.'

2. I digress. I went over to Dustin’s to make dinner and he was all super smiley. I hadn’t seen him since his birthday because he was gone all weekend at the UO football game in Colorado. Lamesauce. He’s been gone like, non-stop for like, a month (like ha). Over it. Anyway, I thought he was just excited to see me. But he totally had something up his sleeve. When I went to open the fridge while making dinner I found flowers in there. I was all, “did someone give you birthday flowers? Weird..” And turned around and he had the hugest smile on his face. It was sweet. They were yellow tulips (tulips are my fav) and I was excited:

3. He also got me a book. But not just any book. A book that has his voice recorded in it. As in, his recorded voice reads the book to me. It’s a book about how he misses me when he’s gone. And it’s totally a kids book. And it was definitely very sweet. I give him props for his Monday night win (thanks, you).

4. It’s cold out. Very chilly. It’s officially fall, I think. I also I think I need more sweaters. Or maybe just a giant pendleton blanket to drape over my body forever. You can totally wear a blanket to law school, right? #imsocute

5. And today, speaking of being super cute, when I got to school I was all, Kyle I need coffee NOW (Kyle is my partner in the clinic, who I’m working on my theft 3 case, and my life with). I didn’t have time to get it before officer hours because Seattle traffic has been a nightmare since they closed the viaduct. And it took me like 45 minutes to get to school today. So I went across the street to starbucks, then came back all excited about my pumpkin spice americano. And then promptly spilled it on my shirt. Brown stain. Then I came home for lunch b/c one of my classes got cancelled and proceeded to spill red pasta sauce all over another part of my shirt. The boob part. WTF?

6. Now I’m off to interview another witness in my Theft 3 case. A police officer. Scary a little. I hope he’s nice and doesn’t give me a preemptive parking/speeding/sucking at life ticket or something? 

7. I hope you all have lovely days (and easy commutes, because traffic is a b-word). xxoo