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!

Four Facts Survey

Well it’s the day before Thanksgiving which means my productivity/motivation is pretty low, so I figured I’d pepper my work this morning with this fun little blawg survey I found on the interwebs. It’s all about 4s, and I always enjoy reading these things on other people’s sites, and also on my own blog years later, so here we go…

Names people call me other than my real name:

1. Bekie
2. Beka
3. Rebe
4. Rachel (whenever anyone gets my name wrong they usually call me Rachel)

Jobs I’ve had:

1. Barrista
2. Nanny
3. UW Athlete Tutor
4. Contract Specialist 

^^me and some of my Latte Art at Ground in Hood River, OR^^

Movies I’ve watched more than once:

1. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
2. I Love You Man
3. Step Brothers
4. Mean Girls

Books I’d recommend:

1. Where’d You Go Bernadette
2. The Catcher in the Rye
3. The Sun Also Rises
4.  The Rosie Project

Places I’ve lived:

1. White Salmon, WA
2. Zeta Tau Alpha, Seattle, WA
3. 1000 8th Avenue, Seattle WA
4. A trailer in a trailer park on the Umatilla Indian Reservation

Places I’ve visited:

1. England (London and Bath and some other places but I’m counting it all as 1)
2. Chicago, IL for St. Patrick’s Day
3. Sayulita, Mexico
4. San Francisco, CA

 
^^Me, Leslie and Rita in Sayulita, Mexico, at the best burrito bar everrrrr^^

Places I’d rather be right meow:

1. Hood River, OR
2. Snuggling with Fluffy Cat
3. On a beach in Mexico… or Hawaii
4. NYC

Things I’d prefer not to eat:

1. Cucumbers
2. Hamburgers (or hamburger in general)
3. Cold cereal (esp if it’s sweet)
4. Okra

Favorite foods:

1. Nachos (bonus points if there’s guacamole involved)
2. Breakfast Sandwiches
3. Cherries
4. Sushi

^^Best breakfast sandwich from River Daze Cafe in Hood River, OR^^

Things I’m looking forward to this year:

1. My trip to Ecuador over Christmas
2. Planning and going to my 10 year high school reunion
3. the 4th of July (always)
4. Planning and going to Paris with Dustin

TV shows I watch:

1. The Big Bang Theory
2. GIRLS
3. Orange is the New Black
4. The Mindy Project

Schools I’ve attended:

1. Henkel Middle School
2. Columbia High School
3. University of Washington
4. Seattle University School of Law

^^Erin and I before a UW football game in Provo, UT^^

Things I’m always saying:

1. That’s Fair
2. Yay!
3. No judgment
4. EWWW

Andddd that’s a wrap. Please let me know if you decide to complete this survey as well! It was actually kind of fun.

I hope all of my US friends have a happy Thanksgiving!!

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!