Summer 2014 Disposable Camera Dump

Right before I headed back to White Salmon for the 4th of July weekend I thought it would be a great idea to pick up a disposable camera to capture the fun of my favorite holiday. It turns out a disposable camera actually has a lot of pictures on it, and it ended up taking me the entire summer to finish (4th of July – the weekend after Memorial Day). I packed that thing around with me everywhere and got made fun of a little, but you know what, I’m really digging the whole disposable camera thing. You get actual, hard copies of photos and I always opt for the CD too so I can have soft copies as well. I also learned that almost no one knows how to take a picture with one of those (so many fingers in the photos), and also people really like to bunny ear hard copy pics. Fun times!

Anyway, here is a summer recap by way of soft copy disposable camera photos:

The night before the 4th of July I decided to meet Beth for a post-work-beer at Chip’s (this really divey bar in Bingen, WA with a sign that says Liquor in the Front, Poker in the Back out front), we ended up running into a bunch of people I went to high school with and we convinced my brother and his BFF Jered to come join us. We definitely closed down the bar that night and it was actually a blast: ^^Jered, Josh, Beth and Brother Jim at Chip’s^^

On the 4th I went to the annual 4th of July party at the TREW house. I always dress up in my best America outfit for the 4th since it’s my favorite holiday everrrrr. This year did not disappoint:

^^Sarah and I with our matching America glasses^^

^^Captain America letting everyone it was shot time!^^

^^Beth and Capitan America + his mullet^^
    ^^Beth and I in our patriotic 4th of July gear^^

That same weekend Gaby and my friend Dan came through town (on an epic road trip) with his daughter Allison. I met them at The Gorge White House for lunch and a walk through the grounds:

 
I also went to a Mariner’s game with a huge group of friends and coworkers this summer. We ended up running into even more friends and had a total blast. We ended the night in Ballard where one of my flip flops broke so I decided to just go into a bar, Kings Hardware, with only one shoe on, HA:

^^A cute picture of Dustin and I “ruined” by a stranger giving him bunny ears and my coworker Dave photo bombing LOLZ^^

^^Dustin, Meli, Me, Brittan, Danielle, Natalie and Jeff^^ 

  ^^I also found some sorority sisters at the game: Allison, me, A Jo, Kate and Erin^^

In August, I went to Millstock, which is the best thing ever. The next day I took Brittan, Justin, Natalie and Millie to Hood River on our way out of the Dalles and back to Seattle. It was the middle of August and it was SO hot, so we decided to walk down the train tracks to the tressle. On the way we grabbed a bottle of wine from the Springhouse Cellars and bribed the bartender to discreetly open it for us so we could drink it straight from the bottle while swimming like the classy people we are:

There were also Sunday morning brunches and farmers market trips in Ballard with Brittan and Natalie, which is one of my very favorite things:

 
Memorial Day weekend, Brittan’s brother got married in the Dalles. I ended up meeting up with Brittan and Justin in Hood River the night before the wedding. We went to ALL  the bars and drank too much. I took them to Jack’s for the first time and got them their obligatory scorpion bowl which did not help the situation. Whatever, it was so fun!

I went to see Foster the People at Edgefield at some point in August with Gaby and Sarah. It was fun. After I met Beth and Tonya and Christa and we had girls night where we ran around taking shots and dancing our faces off. It was really sweaty that night too.

^^Beth, Christa, Moriva, me and Tonya. Moriva bartended us our first shot of the night – so let’s blame her for our shenanigans ;)^^

And finally, the weekend after Memorial Day I stayed in Seattle (literally the last weekend I spent in Seattle – omg really looking forward to NOT driving this weekend). I went to Friday night Zumba, I got drinks and dinner with Brittan and Natalie, and on Sunday I met up with Katie and Josh and Katie’s dad who was in town from Ecuador and we went wine tasting in Woodinville. It was awesome:

^^Josh, Katie and I^^

^^Katie’s dad with his “marshmallows”^^

Anddddddddd that was my summer! Hooray!

a concert, friendship and hood river summer goodness

This weekend I headed back down to the Columbia River Gorge for the second weekend in a row. I got to Hood River right around dinner time. I met Gaby for a margarita and some chips and salsa before heading to Sarah’s house. I got there a little before her so I took some selfies with my favorite dog, Kiva:

When Sarah, Tonya and Gaby finally got to Sarah’s, we all walked down to the waterfront to have dinner at Sarah and my favorite restaurant, Solstice.  There was a bit of a wait for a table so we headed next door to the new distillery, Camp 1805. They are in their soft opening phase so we tried some their mini-cocktails (that only have about a 1/2 shot of alcohol in them and are served in mini-glasses) before dinner. They were fantastic. So was dinner!

After dinner Sarah and I were walking back to her house when we ran into our friend Abbey. Sarah decided to go home and I hung out with Abbey for a bit before Beth text me to let me know she was off work and headed to my favorite dive bar, The Red Carpet! I met her and some of her work friends for a beer, some girl talk, and some jukebox jams/dancing. It was a fun time.

The next day I met Beth at Lampoei’s food truck for some Thai food before Christa joined us and we headed down to the Hood River for some sunshine.

^^Christa and Beth taking a selfie on the tiny beach^^

After the beach, Beth and I headed to her house to change before she went to work and I went to a concert at Edgefield. Edgefield is a McMenamins property in Troutdale, OR (which is just outside Portland). It was originally built as a poor farm in the early 1900s and then was transformed into a resort of sorts. On the grounds there is a hotel, a golf course, multiple restaurants, even more bars (some tiny, some bigger), a winery, a distillery, a brewery, a soaking pool, a glass blowing studio, a movie theater, etc. It’s very charming. They also have outdoor concerts there. This was my first one at the venue, NONONO and Foster the People were playing. They were really great, high energy and entertaining live. Sarah, Gaby and I had a blast! It was so nice out (despite being REALLY hot until the sun went down) and we had a really great time listening to live music and people watching in the grass.

^^left to right: me, Sarah, Gaby^^

After the concert we ran back to our car and got out of the parking lot just in time to escape the horrible traffic. We headed back to Hood River and got into town right about when Beth was getting off work. Beth and I went to the Pub for a drink where we ran into our friends Tonya and Christa. We ended up taking shots and going to Jack’s to dance them off. I’m not going to lie, my legs are still a little sore from dropping it low with the girls. Dance parties are my favorite!

The only down side to the night was when I ended up waiting over an HOUR for a cab back to White Salmon. It was so ridiculous and the cab driver didn’t have enough room in his cab when he finally arrived so I ended up in the “trunk” of his Subaru because I refused to wait alone for another cab back to White Salmon. Ha! Whatever, spooning with my favorite Fluffy cat that night was worth cab-waiting, trunk riding and not sleeping on a friend’s couch.

Sunday I woke up to my dad making me huckleberry pancakes (with freshly picked huckleberries), ham and eggs. It was awesome. I then had the most uncomfortable run-in with an old friend on the street in downtown Hood River who looked physically uncomfortable/upset that he had to talk to me for like 1 minute (WTF?) which in turn made me really upset and so I immediately got in my car while saying “what the F*CK” out loud, and drove straight to Portland to meet my cousin Tad and his girlfriend for lunch. We ate at Beaches on the Columbia River and it was so great to catch up with them. Hooray for positive encounters that make me feel a million times better. Overall, my heart is full from a really wonderful weekend.

Today at work I was telling my coworker, Justin, about my awkward encounter and he had some really great insight on the whole thing. He basically told me that I’m like an excited puppy who just loves everyone so much and I’m so excited to see everyone and that’s overwhelming for some people (introverts), especially if they are having a bad day or were unprepared to run into someone and have a conversation. He also said that while I enjoy maintaining relationships with everyone near and far, for most people maintaining friendships with people who are far away and who they rarely see/talk to is hard and disappointing because when you’d like them to be there, they aren’t and it’s hard to deal with that. He said he mentally puts people like that in a box and just puts them off to the side because he can’t cope. I’m just going to assume he and my other friend are the same way and not let it make me feel bad anymore. Because, if I’m being totally honest, that encounter kind of ruined my day. And then it made me feel upset that it affected me so much and I didn’t understand why I felt so bad after an awkward run in with that person. It’s not like I’m super close with that person. I was just excited to see them and it wasn’t reciprocated and it sucked. On my way back to Seattle, though, I was thinking about it and I think that the thing that fulfills me most in the world is meaningful relationships with other people. All the other things I do come second to my interactions and connections to others. I think the people I love the most understand and reciprocate that and it makes me love them even more. I’m a total lover! And apparently (duh) a total extrovert.

Anyway, most of the weekend was so good and was filled with so many good people. It really was a wonderful time. I just wish my favorite weekends lasted more than 2 days!

Millstock 2014

This weekend I was able to attend Millstock for the second time and it was just as good as I remember.

Let me back up a minute. On one of my first days of law school I was at a “welcome to law school event” and I was chatting with this girl, Brittan, who I’d just met. We were doing the normal small talk you do when you first meet someone and she asked me where I am from. I told her a small town about 4 hours from Seattle. She prodded further. I gave my usual answer I give to people I meet in Seattle (because almost no one knows where White Salmon is) and said “oh about an hour east of Portland, OR, on the Washington side of the Columbia River.” Brittan started getting excited and asked again “WHERE ARE YOU FROM?!” And so I told her White Salmon to which she responded that she is from The Dalles, which is about 20 minutes east of Hood River. We were instantly bonded and have been friends ever since.

So, to get back to my story, Millstock is this multi-band concert/fundraise/magical time on Brittan’s family’s property outside of The Dalles. I went three years ago (and had the BEST time) and was devastated they didn’t host Millstock the following summer, and then last summer I had a wedding the same day. This year though, I was there. And like I said, it was just as good as I remember.

The location of Millstock is amazing. They host weddings there and after visiting twice I’m convinced the weddings there are probably the most magical, beautiful things ever. It’s not just the venue that’s great though, the people, the music, the food, and the wine are also terrific. I loved sitting outside with friends on Saturday night, listening to music, eating cheese and crackers, drinking wine, hoola-hooping and dancing. It was so relaxing and amazing.

After it got dark and the music ended, we laid outside and looked at the stars for a while before heading back up the hill to Brittan’s parents’ house where we hot-tubbed until bed. The next morning we woke up to coffee and pastries thanks to Brittan’s mom and we chatted for a few hours around the table before everyone headed out.

I left Brittan’s parents’ house and headed my parents’ house – where I stayed on Friday night after it took me SEVEN hours to get from Bellevue to White Salmon (OMG worst traffic ever). While I was at home I was able to surprise my parents’ by telling them that I had booked a trip to Las Vegas for them! And my brother and I are coming too! And some of our family friends! And it’s the first time my mom will ever ride on an airplane (and the second time for my dad). They were ecstatic and we all can’t wait for the trip!

After leaving my parents’ house I met up with Brittan, Justin, Natalie and Melissa in Hood River (law school friends who also live in Seattle and who were also at Millstock) and we walked down to the Hood River to go swimming for a bit. We grabbed a chilled bottle of white wine from Springhouse Cellars along the way and drank it straight from the bottle while standing in the icy river water. The water was cold and perfect and we were having a really nice time until we saw two small water snakes some man convinced us were leeches (after further research I’m convinced they weren’t leeches, but still… WATER SNAKES?!). We jumped out of the water and decided we were over the river and were now in the mood to go back into town for lunch.

We headed to the Full Sail Brewery where we enjoyed a beer while waiting for our table and then had lunch on their patio (despite the 100 degree heat outside). It was really lovely. We stopped in Silverado to browse for a minute before grabbing coffee at Ground and heading out of town.

In other news, I bought a new car this week (all on my own)! I drove it back to the Gorge this weekend and it was so nice not to have to worry that I might break down two hours from anyone I know. I may or may not post more on that later :)

Scenes from the Weekend: Hood River Style (yes, again)

On Thursday I headed down to Hood River to soak up a little more Hood River Summer goodness. Surprised? Didn't think so. Anyway, let's get on with this.

When I got to town I met Beth and we went to Lampoei's, which is this really amazing Thai Food truck, to grab some (of the best) Thai Food and take it down to the river to enjoy while we dipped our toes in the cold water and read for a little bit.

After the river, we met our friends Sarah and Launa and headed to White Salmon to Henni's Kitchen for an amazing, leisurely dinner complete with lots of small plates, wine, and amazing main courses. We sat outside, chatted and watched the sun go down, which made girls night extra amazing. After dinner we grabbed a quick beer at Double Mountain before calling it a night.

Friday morning I woke up early, walked downtown to Ground for some breakfast. On my walk I ran into Dustin's parents which was a fun surprise. After breakfast I walked across the street to the TREW gnaRV (pop-up-shop), said hi to a few of my guy friends who were working the morning shift and bought myself a new sweatshirt which I can't wait to wear all the time when the weather gets a little cooler.

I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon working alongside Beth and Marissa at Dog River. After work I met up with Josh and Sarah, who made me a delicious dinner (chicken with chanterelles and an awesome organic salad). I also got to spend some quality time with my favorite dog, Kiva, during dinner. She's the sweetest ever.

After dinner we met up with friends at Double Mountain and then sat outside at the Pub for the rest of the night.

Saturday morning Beth and I met up with our friend Abby at River Daze Café for breakfast sandwiches on their homemade English muffins (YUM). After which we walked around, visited the TREW pop-up-shop so Abby could get a sweater, got juice from the Juice truck and then ran into our friend Ashley. She suggested we make an impromptu trip down to the river for an hour and we obliged. We ended up swimming in our bras and underwear and drinking PBRs for a little while before heading back into town. It was really spontaneously fun.

^^Beth and Abby in the River^^ 

When we got back to town I had to go change and get ready for Katie and Josh's final wedding-related-party at Katie's mom's house. Katie told me I should bring a plus one since I likely wouldn't know many people there, so, since Beth was working, I invited my friend Greg to go with me. Apparently I did not adequately prepare him for the awesomeness of the wedding (I said it would be in White Salmon, it was in Mill-A; I said it was a wedding reception, there was no dancing or other traditional wedding-related-events; I didn't say anything (or know anything) about the chickens or totally legal-weed-grow-operation, or the people who would judge him for windsurfing etc.), but the food was awesome and there were drinks and it was fun to hang with Josh and Katie, so it was all good. Plus, now we both have a really good story and probably he will never go anywhere with me ever again ;) ha! I definitely deserve that.

 ^^Greg and I in front of the weed and the chickens, because, I mean, how could we not?^^

^^Josh and Katie^^ 

After the wedding we grabbed a drink at Celilo to re-class-it-up before the decline that went like: Waucoma Club, Pint Shack, Ladies dance party at Jack's, the coolest ever Chinese restaurant bar/dance club (I loveeee Jack's!). While at Celilo we saw some friends who joined us for a drink and the rest of the night I just kept running into more people which was so much fun!

Sunday there was breakfast at the Riverside Grill followed by Beth, Tonya and I heading to Rasmussen Farms and then to the Hood River Lavender Farm to pick flowers. Afterward I met Marissa and Zara for a few minutes, then headed to Stevenson to see Jessica, her husband and sweet baby before driving back to Seattle.

 

 ^^Rasmussen Farm's U-Pick flowers^^

^^Beth and Tonya with their lavender^^ 

^^The Columbia River Gorge as seen from the Bridge of the Gods on my way back to Seattle^^

 

I probably say that all of the weekends in Hood River are my favorite, but this one was definitely up there. It was so packed full of good people and fun times. I'm in love. Take me back? 

 

It should also be noted that I successfully spent 6 days in a row with Beth. She's moving to Boise in a week and a half and I hate hate HATE to see her go. I'm going to miss her so much (I mean obvi I'll still see her, but probably not AS often). It was good to get almost a whole week together, celebrate the end of summer and make lots of memories. I'll be back to the Gorge soon for her going away party and Hood River Hops Fest. I can't wait (minus the whole moving thing which I may be in denial about a little bit)! #ILOVEITTHERE



The Red Carpet – Favorite Night

My last Thursday night in Hood River may have been my very favorite night in Hood River this summer. It started out with beers at Double Mountain, Greg texting me then coming to meet up with us, then moving to the Pub for a “baby beer” and me trying my very hardest to convince everyone to go to the Red Carpet (which is a dive bar on the other end of town – most of the bars we go to are in walking distance of each other in downtown Hood River).

Greg and I used to go to the Red Carpet last summer with some of our other friends. We went fairly often, and fairly randomly, and it was always a fun time. I definitely missed it and hadn’t been since my last time with Greg on Tristan’s birthday last August. I NEEDED to go again. It took a bit of convincing to get Josh there. Greg, Dave and Beth weren’t too hard to convince (and that’s why I like them – party time). Anyway, mission accomplished.

When we got there we all took Jegar Bombs. “Thursday’s the new Friday, CHEERS!“

Seriously I LOVE these people SO much (capitals are trying to make my point) LOVE LOVE (also missing Marissa – she hadn’t arrived yet):

Let’s get excited, Friendz!!

We had some more beers and it was so so good. We sat outside and there weren’t many people there. I just love the Red Carpet. Have I mentioned that lately?

While sitting outside I ruined some potentially cute pictures with Greg (who is just super cute in general :)

 

Then Dave and Josh played some Pool while the rest of us chatted and sipped on cheap beers. We also sang along to some lonely island songs (standard)! Seriously the best.

 

Then we started doing “Shake Face” or Joules as we called it in College. Basically you shake your face back and forth and make it all loose and someone tries to catch your awkwardness on camera:

Then we started to feel like this:

 

So then we figured it was time to head back to Dave’s house for some hot tub time machine. Literally. Time escaped us and it felt like I’d only been there for 5 minutes and I had somehow consumed more alcohol (even though I hadn’t, and we had been there much longer).

And then before I knew it we were leaving. And I accomplished a little mission of mine.

I really really REALLY loved Red Carpet night. It was the most perfect night I could have asked for during Hood River Summer fun time.

Then the next day everyone else was hungover at work, so Josh (Yosh) and I went to the Hood River and had beach day and hair of the dog day with Coronas on the beach. And it was good. I literally sat on a rock in the river for about an hour trying to absorb water through my skin. That’s a thing, right?

 

But now, sadly, all of that fun, most amazing friend time is over. And I’m back in Seattle. And I start school tomorrow. And I’m going to complain about it.

But, tomorrow is my very last, ever, first day of school. Hi there, 3L, I feel like I was just starting law school. So so weird. But that’s another post for another day when I have much less exciting, happy, fun things to blog about. Hi there, school. Hi there, boring life. Good bye Hood River Summer, I’ll miss you most of all. Time of my life, seriously!