Monday Night Grouplove Love

Monday at work my office mate gifted me two tickets to the Grouplove concert that night at the Crocodile. I was stoked, immediately said yes and thanked her a million times before picking up my phone to text Beth and ask her if she wanted to come up from Hood River and go with me. She responded like three seconds later with "Hahaha omg I am so there. I am just getting out of bed, I need to get my shit together." and she got it together and drove herself up and met me at my apartment after I got off work.

I made us dinner (Caprese Salad, because tomatoes right now, I mean, swoon!, and stuffed Portobello mushrooms) and we waited for my new, big girl tv to be delivered, had a drink then headed to the concert. Beth's friend, Ashley, who I met when Beth and I went to the Gaslight Anthem concert a few months ago, was also there and we had so much fun dancing around to the high-energy, awesome live music and celebrating our new friend, Scott's, 21st birthday. Arguably my favorite part of the show, though, was when Grouplove danced onto the stage while A$AP Rocky blasted through the speakers (it was totally a Rebeka move and I loved it).

 

After the show Beth and I split and order of biscuits and gravy at the 5-Point Café before calling it a night.

The next day I was able to work from home while Beth worked on her resume and scoured the internet for a place to live (please don't move to Boise!!). We were even able to make it out to lunch at Poquitos on Capitol Hill and on the way hope stopped for a Top Pot doughnut and coffee.

After a little more work back at my apartment, we went to Greenwood where we sat outside at Naked City and enjoyed a beer before heading down the block to Gainsbourg for a French dinner.

Beth left this morning right before I left for work and after we killed some spiders from my doorway (ewe). I can't wait to see her again this weekend! It was definitely a lot of mid-week fun having her in Seattle!!

Hood River for Marissa's Birthday

 

Two weekends ago I drove back to Hood River to celebrate Marissa's birthday. I missed it last year because I was studying for the bar/living at the law library/generally hating my life, and I promised her then that I would be there to celebrate this year.

I drove down on Saturday morning, which, by the way, is far less traffic-y than driving down on a Friday night. I would highly recommend it. When I got into town it was absolutely beautiful outside, so I decided to play third wheel and I tagged along with Josh and Sarah (and Kiva and Lala) on a min-adventure to Mosier to visit Josh's dad.

 Sarah and I in Mosier

 

 LaLa and I (OMG I made friends with a dog!)

 

After Mosier, the three of us headed back into Hood River, blasting some old school Nelly #sogood. We grabbed a quick bite to eat from Colby at Hajukin Cuisine (also #sogood) then headed to Dog River for a little birthday prefunk with the crew.

 

From back left: Tonya, Caroline, Marissa, Rachel, Florian, Phoebe, Josh S, Me, Sarah, Tall Paul and Dave (front and center)



 

Marissa wearing my birthday gift to her: JORTERALLS! I'm sort of obsessed and want some for myself now. #OOTD

 

The rest of the nigh included drinks at the pub, a dance party at Jack's (my favorite) where I successfully requested both "Hot in Here" (because I just couldn't get enough) and "Blurred Lines" and got to share a scorpion bowl with my friends.  

 

Caroline, Abby, Huggie, Beth and Florian sharing some Scorpion bowl at Jack's 

 

Then, to top it all off, after the bars closed, Huggie convinced a cab driver to take a van full of us through the Taco Bell Drive through, after which we devoured $36 worth of cheap tacos around the TREW house coffee table before Beth and I walked back to her place to sleep for a  few hours.

 

The next day a few of us did breakfast then Beth and I decided to go into Portland for a few hours of walking around NW 23rd St, shopping and some really delicious mac and cheese before I drove back to Seattle. 

 

It was a really quick, super fun Hood River trip and I can't wait to go back for the 4th of July!

a Thursday jam

 

Have you guys heard this song by Robin Thicke yet? It's quite the little jam. I also really like the plastic outfits in the video. I wonder if I could pull that off? 

 

#sogood #onrepeat

 

I hope you're all having a happy day.

 

xxoo 

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!





Call me maybe?

I’ve been obsessed with that “Call Me Maybe” song for a while now. I mean, who isn’t? It’s just so catchy! And, added bonus: it’s great to dance to at Jack’s. But that’s beside the point…

Today, in the midst of my crazy bar prep studying, I found this cover of that super catchy jam, performed by Rebecca Minkoff, Hilary Rhoda and The Man Repeller (who I totally girl crush, no shame).

It’s good. Enjoy:

welcoming the new year

Ohh you guys. This new year’s eve, let me tell you: it was a good one. I got dressed up in a sparkly dress, had dinner with Dustin then bar hopped around his neighborhood. We started across the street at Naked City Brewery where I had some apricot cider and Dustin had some beer. Then we headed across the street to the Pirate Bar where I got a ton of compliments on my dress (really, who doesn’t like to get complimented?) and had a wonderful time with my hot Dustin date. We had a drink there then decided to head upstairs to Dustin’s apartment right before midnight to have our own private champagne toast (that boy got us some Moet & Chandon champagne which was amazing), watch the space needle fireworks on TV and a few more random fireworks from his balcony, and of course have an awesome new year’s kiss – isn’t that the best part?

Dustin getting the champagne popped while I’m getting excited from all the alcohol and Party Rock Anthem and love and things:

After midnight, I insisted that we go across the street to the “Yen Won Garden” (it’s actually called Yen Wor Garden or something – Dustin kept correcting me – whatever, it’s forever Yen Won in my mind). This place is a Chinese restaurant, dive bar, karaoke funtime. I guess I have a thing for dive-y Chinese Restaurant bars? Anyway, I have been wanting to go there practically since Dustin moved into his apartment, and my wish finally came true on Saturday night (great way to start off the new year, right?).

When we walked in they were playing the "Party Rock Anthem” and I freaked out and forced Dustin to dance with me on the “dance floor” – no one else was dancing. Side note: I don’t really get my obsession with that song on NYE, I think it was something about how it was associated in my mind with tons of good 2011 memories? When we were done shuffling, I got another drink (obviously necessary) and insisted that Dustin and I sing karaoke. He was all, “um no.” I was all “YES WE’RE AT THE YEN WON GARDEN, WE HAVE TO!” Then he was like “It’s yen WOR, and I’m drunk, and you’re wearing a pretty dress and I like you, so sure” (I’m not sure if that’s really what he said, but in my mind he did). Then I was like, “I want to sing ‘Disturbia’ by Rihannah.” And he was like “do you know ALL THE WORDS?” And I was like, “YES! Of course, you! This was my JAM senior year of college.” And then before I knew it they were calling our names to sing in front of like 10 really classy people who were not amused, and I was shoving the microphone in Dustin’s face because, shocker, I did not know all the words. I was also laughing and dancing all over the stage and screaming “dum dum de dum!”  It was so much fun, you guys. That’s the 100% truth!

After we “sang” our karaoke, we danced some more while other people sang, and the girl DJ/Karaoke master joined us for some dancing (and then there were three) and said we were awesome and then it was 2am and they were closing. After that Dustin and I went back to his apartment to drink more expensive champagne straight from the bottle (whoops, sorry) and stay awake until 6:30am.

The next day was a waste. We felt miserable, and then we ate some bacon and fried potatoes and later a whole pint of rocky road ice cream and a whole bag of popcorn and drank a lot of soda water with bitters and then we slept for 12 hours straight in an attempt to heal ourselves. The day after that was a waste too (besides the whole Ducks winning the Rose Bowl thing, which Dustin was SO happy about).

Overall, the weekend was really amazing.

Also Dustin, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry that I, in fact, did not know all the words to “Disturbia”, and I think you are the very best and also my most FAVORITE person for making my NYE so amazing (for the second year in a row), and for buying all of my drinks that night (and most nights), and my dinner too, and just for feeding me (all the time) in general. Oh, and also thank you for putting up with all of my crazy nonsense all the time. I have muches of loves for you, favorite boy.

And that was it, guys!

I hope you all had wonderful new year’s eves and midnight kisses and new year’s days too!

P.S. this year I’m resolving to take better care of my skin. I failed at washing my face on the first day of the year because of the hangover. But hey, that only leaves room for improvement, right? Right.

Headaches & Monday & Pictures

I have been all complain, complain, complain lately and I'm sorry for that. But oh my, my head still hurts from my concussion. And today my doctor told me that this headache could last for months. Um, unacceptable? Also I've been learning the hard way that it's difficult to be positive when you're physically in pain. I need to do something about this ASAP. I'm just not sure what that I should do yet... does anyone have any good headache remedies (IB proufin just isn't cutting it)?

Anyway, here are some more Danielle and Steffen Wedding pictures (because like I said before, pictures make everything better - in blog world at least):

Beautiful bride Danielle and me during bridal party picture time

Zeta Love (bride + ZTA sorority sisters)

The wedding party took golf carts to the beach for pictures. I took two glasses of champagne along for the ride.

Also, happy Monday everyone. CLICK HERE for a free music download (because free music Mondays are good). 

Kammerer Wedding Part Three

It has taken me about a month to tell you about Danielle and Steffen’s wedding. Ha. But here I am, at the last post. (oh and here are the links to Part 1 and Part 2 in case you missed them).

So after getting ready at the Ritz and having our pictures taken and all of that we headed down to Mullens where the reception would take place. We sat in this room and started to get really, really nervous. Then we listened to a little “Party Rock” on Courtney’s cell and everything got infinitely better. Then it was time to head out to the ceremony.

I walked down the isle with my man twin, Josh, waited up at the alter for Danielle while Steffen sobbed. It was so sweet. 

The ocean was in the background and although it was overcast out, it was beautiful.

The ceremony was really sweet and I was smiling the entire time in an attempt not to cry in front of 100+ people. Ha. I would!

After the ceremony, it was picture time/cocktail hour. We waited and took some pictures under the alter then headed inside real quick to get some drinks (Josh and I double fisted champagne and Kate stole a whole bottle for us to take on our picture adventure). After a slight mishap we were in our golf carts heading down to the beach to take some wedding party + bride and groom pictures. I wish I would have brought my camera to the golf cart adventure. But I didn’t. Bad blogger.

After picture time we headed back to Mullens and bustled up Danielle.

 

Right after we got back it was dinner time. I love dinner time. I was starving. I got sat next to Josh at dinner (we were at the big wedding party table in front of everyone and we felt really cool about it) and obvi we had a great time (twinz do that).

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN! Like this!

Dinner was delish. It started with a yummy salad, a piece of bread with goat cheese on it and a roll. A+:

Also I had 4 drinks… because that’s how I roll at weddings apparently (two champagnes, one red one and one water):

After that our main courses came. I ordered the chicken dish (I can’t remember what it was called now, but it was really good – it was chicken, wrapped in filo and stuffed with some mushroom amazingness).

Josh ordered the Prime Rib and I forced him to trade me a bite for a bite. His was amazing too. NOM:

We obviously finished our dinners completely, and hoarded a dish of butter too.. Fat kids FOR SURE! We also finished up Courtney’s prime rib when she couldn’t do so herself. All that standing, and picture taking and stress really made us hungry.

During dinner there were a bunch of toasts too. I had to hold back tears the entire time. Weddings are so emotional. Sigh!

But I remember sitting there during dinner thinking: I can’t believe this is it. I can’t believe they’re FINALLY married. They’ve been together the entire time I’ve known them and they are one of those couples you just know are supposed to be together. They are really really great and I am just so happy for them.

After dinner we got up to go watch Danielle and Steffen’s first dance. But first, a surprise! Whatttt?

Steffen surprised Danielle by playing/singing  a song that he had been practicing for a few months, SO SWEET!

He sang her “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry but changed some of the lyrics. If I told you I didn’t ugly sob during it I would be lying. Like really, really ugly crying.

What can I say? After having such a stressful/emotional day, where I held back tears for like, the entire day, when I was watching him play/sing her that song, it was just SO sweet. And I wept. But when I looked over I saw that Courtney was doing the same, so it was ok. (P.S. her boyfriend may be my man twin, but she is my female twin. Love.)

Ugly cry faces? Don’t say I didn’t warn you:

Then came their first dance which they had been taking dancing lessons in preparation for. It was really really good. I loved it, which is saying something because usually I hate first dances. Like how awkward, everyone standing there watching you grope each other and makeout to a song for 5 minutes? NO thank you!

After that I went to the bathroom, wiped the ugly off, went outside for a second, then got the dance party started (duh):

The DJ was really great. He didn’t just play songs iPod style, he actually mixed them it was a great dance party.

I kept taking breaks to go outside because I kept feeling super overwhelmed though. Then going back inside to dance (obvi) and take care of drunk people (oh the life of a bride’s maid).

And then near the end of the night Danielle suggested a tequila shot (which were kind of our thing in college – um, Patron, yes please). The other bride’s maids got word and it turned into a bridal party shot. And it was awesome!

We hung out until the end of the reception then helped clean up a little before Kate and I headed back to our hotel room to change and go to the house the boys had rented for a little (super mellow) after party.

That night we slept for a few hours before getting up and heading back to the airport. I sat next to the worst child ever on the flight back to Seattle. He had no sense of boundaries. I almost punched him, but I didn’t. Close call. Note: don’t ever touch me over and over again on a flight when I’m about to vom from my raging hangover. But that’s beside the point…

Danielle and Steffen had the best wedding ever. Ever ever ever. It was just so perfect and nice and fun. I loved it.

The end.

I don't know what the plan is

All I want to do is listen to music, all day. I'm antsy and lethargic at the same time. I don't like it. 

But I do like this song, lots and lots. Talk about obsession of the day. Do you guys get that? Find a song or an album you really like and just listen to it over and over and over again? I'm so so guilty. Always.

And I must sound like a huge complainer. I'm sorry, friends. I wish I had real things to write about. 

Epic Sigh...
(is it too early for a drink - haha I joke, mostly)

Update:

Day was mostly remedied by Fro Yo date with my roommie, Erin. We went to Zoe Yogurt near our house and right across the street from Green Lake:

I got Peanut butter (DUH) and cheesecake fro yo with heath bar and Oreo toppings. Um, yum. Perfect for this 80 degree Seattle (Fall) day! 

And tonight I have a hot dinner/after date. So maybe my day is looking up after all?

Happy Friday, friendz! xxoo 

one of THOSE days

Yesterday was an emotional breakdown kind of day. I started tearing up in class. Feeling inadequate once again. Feeling like everyone was smarter than me. Feeling like I shouldn't have been there, like I didn't enjoy it, any of it. Feeling like it was just too hard. It's too boring. It's too awful. I had one of those days yesterday where I legitimately wanted to drop out of law school and enroll in beauty school instead. I'm good at making people look cute. I'm good at doing hair. I could do that for a living, right? Screw law school. Because, like I said, that ish is TOO HARD!

But then, today, I woke up and things were just a little bit better. I realized that I'm smarter than lots of people. Maybe not people in law school, but people in general. I realized that at least I have a well-rounded life. I have friends. I'm not just school. I also woke up and realized that someone very special will be back tomorrow. And this morning I remembered that all the debt will work itself out. I realized that things like this always work themselves out. They have to, right?

This isn't to say that I still don't have "I hate this" moments. Like this morning in Real Estate when he was talking for an hour and a half about, really, I have no idea what he was talking about. And I realized that I was paying $122 to sit there and listen to him talk about confusing nothingness. Talk about frustration. Because that's how I was feeling. Poor (in more ways than one) and unintelligent and frustrated.

But then I looked to my right and there were two of my favorite people in school. And one more favorite sitting in front of me. And I realized that I'm not the only one who was confused in that moment. They weree too. Everyone sitting there in Real Estate in that moment was in a similar boat. All floating together. Hanging on for dear life. But maybe I'm luckier than most people because I remembered that later I get to get off my boat go to dinner at Skillet with those three awesome friendz. And I get to vent about life. And I will feel better. Because when law school sucks I can remember that at least I still have friends. And things like that are important. And also did I mention that someone very amazing comes back to me tomorrow? That is also most important. And most exciting. For me, anyway.

So for now, I'm happy that my emotional, breakdown in class, type of day is over. At least temporarily. And in the meantime I will listen to this song, which I forgot about until this morning. Thank you, Pandora for reminding me.

cheers to the (much needed) weekend

Here are a few things that are making me smile an inside joke kind of smile right now:

Now you're a supermodel and I'm a motherfucking bear and we're literally the same exact person. It's weird.

&

Because sometimes, you'll be thinking about something, and then you'll have that weird "something is going to happen today, something isn't right" feeling and then 2 hours later you'll get a text message about the thing you were thinking about (or three) that just kind of ruins your day. Then you'll have to go to a CLE and a training and you'll want to die from boredom and hatred at both because of your awful, werid day. And then you'll know that you're being dramatic but you just can't help it because you're in such a bad mood. Then you'll go drink Double Mountain beer with Stacy after a very sweaty walk. And it will make you want to be in Hood River with your besties. And then you'll come home and you'll have more dramatic text messages. And you'll want to punch someone in shin, or the soul. But you have to keep telling yourself that soon you'll have friends and wine and fun. And time heals all. It can't be bad always. Things will get better. But first you need to look at/listen to inside joke kind of cheery things.

So that's why right now you're reading this post instead of wedding part two and maybe part three.

Also I owe you a post about how I went to court yesterday for the first time ever (as someone's attorney) and it was awesome.

But that will come after a shower and new makeup and wine. And maybe some sleep too.

cheers to the weekend
xxoo

IP Lessons

I've had a really unproductive morning. Mostly because my Intellectual Property professor introduced me to the world of BitTorrent yesterday. I don't think that's what he had in mind when he was asking us whether or not we though that IP laws were good for society and whether or not we thought downloading music via BitTorrent was immoral. (FYI most people answered yes to the first question and no to the second ha). Then feeling like I live under a rock I googled BitTorrent and was introduced to its magic.

Anyway, here are two of my morning song obsessions:

Also did I mention that it's still August and it's cold and cloudy and awful in Seattle.

The end of August and I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt, jeans and boots. WTF? I'm not happy about it.

I've decided I'm also not happy with my hair and it needs to grow, but that's another story for another day.

End of August outfit, in my lovely living room

Now it's time to go cram in some reading before class & my clinic.

XXOO

obsessing

Guys, seriously, I'm obsessing over thehoodinternet.com - I blame my good friend Josh for this one. But some free, new music is just what I've been needing.

The Hood Internet - Fire It Up, Firemouse (Lil Wayne x Modest Mouse) by hoodinternet
The Hood Internet - Moneymaking Money Maker That Makes Money (Ludacris x Rilo Kiley) by hoodinternet
The Hood Internet - The T-Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (T-Pain x The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart) by hoodinternet

These are a few of the good songs I've found over the past few days. You can also download full mixtapes which are like an hour long. So great!

Ok I'll stop gushing.

Anyway, a little later I'm meeting my friend Beth for a day-time-ish/after-work beer at Double Mountain (which is like my all-time-favorite brewery). Excited!