Some lately happenings

 

^^giant Mexican beers and nachos for Beth’s birthday^^

This past weekend was part good and part stressful and dumb and I wish I could forget about it – so I’m not going to talk about that part, not because it’s secret but because it was really dumb and I don’t want to relive it via writing about it. Also I’m not going to talk about it because this is my space and I do what I want #norulz

Friday was my Beth-friend’s birthday. We celebrated with giant beers and nachos and then with Runnels family dinner then drinks. There was also breakfast the next morning. Then I went to a funeral which was a really nice service, but kind of starting there I would like to pretend the next 9ish hours didn’t happen. And actually some of the time before that too, but whatevz. That night I drove to Seattle so tired and miserable, and Dustin surprised me with some food from my favorite food truck, Off the Rez. I then slept for a million hours minus when I woke up in the middle of the night and told Dustin that I didn’t want to play the bedtime game, I just wanted to play the normal game. I have no recollection of this. Sleep walking/talking is s’fun and probably stress related?

Sunday we washed cars (the Rav cleans up good, although I locked my keys (and cell phone and purse) in my car right as I was finishing the washing/vacuuming which sucked but then eventually it just… unlocked itself(?!) and all was good) and then got food truck biscuit snacks and beer from Chuck’s 85th St. Hop Shop which is basically what Sundays are made for, right? Then I met one of Dustin’s college friends and I grocery shopped and we movie watched and that was relaxing and all the things Sunday should be (minus exercise, I yoga-failed).

I have all the friendship planned for tonight too. I’m grabbing happy hour with my usual Tuesday-happy-hour-crew (Katie, Josh, Art, Amy, Dustin and Sierra), then I’m going to see 50 Shades of Grey with Brittan, Natalie and Danielle because it’s $5 for girls’ night at the Sundance Theater here in Seattle and also you can have drinks while you watch the movie and also because Brittan wanted to see it and the rest of us wanted friendship. I fully anticipate it to be terrible. And no, I have not read the books.

Usually my weekday evenings are all: commute for like an hour home from work, do some exercises because I just sat at a desk all day and I want to be healthy/not fat, cook dinner, eat dinner, do an activity (read, watch TV, do paint by numbers, paint my nails, drink some wine, etc.) and go to bed. Tuesdays are usually my day to do something fun with friends. Hi Tuesday. Hi Beers. Is it 5 yet?

Beth and Sarah’s Seattle Visit

This weekend two of my best friends, Beth and Sarah, rode the train up (from the homeland) to come visit me in Seattle. I rarely have visitors in Seattle so it was an extra fun weekend for me. We ate Indian food at Taste of India, had two nights of girlfirend sleepovers in my tiny apartment, ate too much at brunch, went shopping in the sunshine, swooped up my friend Amy and met up with Dustin and his friend, my coworker Dave and his 2 friends at the EMP where we visited the Scream Booth in the horror exhibit and we paid extra to go into the really cool Star Wars room (I’m not even a big fan and I still thought it was neat). After that we had lunch with Amy, somehow managed to be freezing cold despite the sunshine, got FroYo despite our chills and then collapsed at my apartment for a few hours. Saturday night we met my friends Brittan and Natalie for a drink and it was one of the happiest moments for me. 4 of my besties, all together at once! In Seattle! We ended up at a shitty dive bar in Ballard that was also a Chinese restaurant and Beth miiiight have got sick and we miiiiight have went home early. But not after we discovered that Sarah (AKA Grandma) can drink like. a. boss. It was my favorite moment. Then Sarah and I drunk reheated our Indian food leftovers and baked frozen mac and cheese bites and ate it all standing up in my kitchen while Beth laid on my bathroom floor and yelled at us for making noises and smells. None of that has happened in one night since like, law school and it was so fun (minus Beth feeling terrible). They left too early on Sunday and I laid around for a while before meeting up with Dustin for open house-ing and sunshine beer drinking and Oscar watching. Legit weekend in Seattle. #isitfridayyet?

^^Me, Sarah, Beth and Amy actually screaming really loud in a booth at the EMP^^
  ^^Amy, Beth, me and Sarah, still at the EMP (PS at 5’4” how am I the tallest one in the group?!)^^

Valentine’s day weekend 2015 at Disneyland

A while back my friend Katie and her husband Josh had some airline miles to use before they expired. They decided to book a flight to LAX over President’s day weekend and figured that they would decide on details later. They ultimately decided to go to Disneyland and invited Dustin and I, as well as our friends Art and Amy to join them. I’d never been to Disneyland (I know, right?), Dustin had (and loved it) so we were in.

Dustin and I took the Friday the 13th off of work and flew down to California midday – after I had some day-off-work-drama trying to get this multi-million-dollar-deal closed that I had been working on for months. I got it figured out, ultimately on my phone, from the airport, then we were off #STRESS.

Dustin upgraded us to first class for our flight, another first for me. First class is the most magical thing. How come I hadn’t been flying this way all the time? (I know why, don’t answer that). I sipped dranks and chatted with Dustin and looked out the window because it was so sunny and clear and ate a yummy thai wrap and listened to a lot of Beyonce. It was my favorite flight.

^^First Class^^

^^Flying over Mount St. Helens^^

^^Flying over Mt. Hood and the Homeland^^

We booked a shuttle to take us from LAX to the Disneyland Hotel where we were staying. We probably should have given our flight times, etc. a little more thought, because we got stuck in really terrible LA traffic heading to our hotel. I did snap a lot of really excellent SnapChatting while sitting on that shuttle, though:

^^Snap game so on point/little child photo bombing so hard^^

When we finally arrived at the hotel it was getting dark so there wasn’t much time to get in the pool like we’d originally hoped. Instead we went to our room and got ready for dinner with Goofy at Goofy’s Kitchen!

I’m pretty sure Goofy’s Kitchen is for children, as evidenced by the food at the buffet (and I guess the fact that it’s at Disneyland, haha), but I gave zero fucks because that food was GOOD. Mac and Cheese pizza, you guys! Holy yum. Also, dirt cups for dessert. Plus Goofy and his “friends” danced around the restaurant and we took pics with them, including a selfie with Minnie Mouse.

^^Dustin, Goofy and myself at the beginning of our Dinner with Goofy^^
  ^^Selfie with Minnie^^

^^Dustin and Minnie Mouse would probs make a really cute couple, you know, if you’re into that^^

After dinner Dustin and I walked around the hotel property for a bit before finding the most awesome Tiki Bar ever. There were flaming drinks and it “rained” inside and they would ring a bell that made the lights flicker and the pictures of volcanoes on the wall erupt and it was so, so cool. When Katie and Josh landed we forced them to come join us for a drink.

^^Katie, me, Dustin and Josh with Disneyland’s version of a Scorpion Bowl :) ^^

At the end of the night Dustin and I walked Josh and Katie out to the front of the hotel to catch their Uber then we stopped to look at the light-up-map-thing at the front of our hotel. While we were standing there, a security guard named Rob came up to us and starting chatting with us and telling us tips and tricks for navigating the park, etc. I mentioned it was my first time there and Rob took us up into some super secret, fancy-as-fuck suites in the hotel and showed us around. It was sooo cool. One of the suites had an open air living room and I wish Rob had the power to upgrade us, sadly we had to go back to our (already upgraded, already super nice) room and go to bed, as it was like 1am at this point.

Dustin and I woke up bright and early the next morning. Apparently staying at the Disneyland Hotel entitled us to an extra “Magic Hour” in the park before everyone else was allowed to go in. We entered the park at 7am and immediately went to get in line for Space Mountain. I was mildly hungover and super tired at this point and hated Space Mountain with a firey passion – it was terrifying and dark and the only redeeming part about it was the cold air it blew in my face the whole time. (side note: I think I wouldn’t have hated it but for the circumstances surrounding when I rode it) Also I felt dizzy when I got off. Fuck you, Space Mountain. This picture says it all (OMFG, so bad):

^^it looks like I was crying, I think I was a little bit^^

After Space Mountain we went on Star Tours which was fun. We then went to Indiana Jones to get a Fast Pass because the park was opening. Art and Amy got there around 8 while we were on some jungle cruise right next to Indiana Jones, they got fast passes and we walked over to our breakfast reservation on Main Street. Breakfast was good but even with a reservation we had to wait about 20 minutes. So we took some pictures outside in the sunshine.

^^Art, Amy, Dustin (I think Art and Dustin were jokingly fighting over Amy here)^^

^^Dustin and I waiting for breakfast^^

After breakfast we went on a few rides (Indiana Jones, Pirates, Dumbo) before meeting up with Josh and Katie around noon.

^^Amy and I on Dumbo. Photo courtesy of the boys who didn’t want to ride Dumbo (whatever)^^

^^Art, Amy, me and Dustin before lunch^^

At this point is was getting so, soooo hot in the park (like 90 degrees, in February! It was amazing but also exhausting). Also, there were SO MANY PEOPLE there. Like way more people than I expected. It was CRAZY busy. We eventually stopped for a hand-dipped corn dog and some bottled water. After lunch we went on the Thunder Mountain Railroad rollercoaster which was my favorite ride of the day. Amy and I also purchased Mickey ears which we got embroidered with our names and were s’cute.

^^Amy and I with Mickey Ears^^

We went on some other rides too then took a time-out with Art and Amy to head to our hotel pool for a bit. We all had a drink and some fries by the pool and Art, Amy and I got into the water for a bit before heading back to our room to get ready for dinner.

We had a triple-date Valentine’s dinner at some Creole restaurant. 3 of us got the Monte Cristo sandwich, which was so, sooo good at the time but now I never want to think of it again. It was deep fried and fatty and the thought of it makes me want to vomit for some reason. But really, it was amazing, and if you’re ever there you should definitely eat it. 

After dinner all 6 of us stood in line for the Haunted Mansion. We finally got inside the ride, were ready to go and it never started. Apparently the ride was broke down. Huge bummer as it was the longest line we waited in all day. After that Katie and Josh went to ride a fast pass ride and Dustin and I went with Art and Amy to do the Star Tours ride again.

Eventually Art and Amy walked over to California Adventure and when Dustin and I were heading back to the main part of the park after that we spotted Mickey Mouse! I was so excited as I heard that he rarely makes appearances. Obvi we stood in a line that was short at that point but grew rapidly, for a picture.

After Mickey we stopped to watch the fireworks at Cinderella’s castle, which was covered by a tarp because they were doing repairs for the 40th Anniversary celebration. Actually, a number of the big rides were closed for 40th Anniversary updates/repairs (Splash Mtn, Matterhorn, etc.). Despite that, though, the fireworks were awesome. I love fireworks and I was so excited to see some in February!

Dustin and I stopped and got a picture with Tinker Bell around this time too.

^^Valentine’s day smooches with Tinker Bell^^

After the fireworks Dustin and I met up with Josh and Katie to ride It’s a Small World before heading over to grab a seat for the 10:something PM Fantasmic showing. At this point I was f-ing exhausted. We sat and watched the Fanstamic show which was really cool and included fire and Mickey and dragons and water and dancing neon monkeys on a boat. I loved it. After the show was over Dustin, Art, Amy and myself went on Haunted Mansion which was finally up and running again. It was like 11:30pm when we got out of the ride and I was sooo dunzo. Dustin wanted to grab a beer Downtown Disney and I just could not. We went back to the room, I looked at my Microsoft Band and saw that I had walked like 27,000 steps that day. My legs were a very painful jelly. We immediately fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up before Dustin and almost fell trying to get out of bed, my legs were so sore and stiff. I decided to walk down to Starbucks and get us some coffee and breakfast sandwiches. It was sooo gorgeous outside that morning. I wanted to stay in SoCal forever. 80 something degree weather in February? I mean…

^^Palm Trees are the best trees, outside of our hotel^^

We hit the gift shop before meeting Art and Amy by our pool for a bit before heading back to the airport around 11am. We left Art and Amy our room key so that they could enjoy the pool for the day before they left on a way later flight (they stayed at a different hotel than Dustin and I). We flew first class back as well, and skipping the security line was my favorite. So was watching St. Vincent on the flight and drinking all the Blue Moon and seeing Mt. Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mt. Adams, the homeland, AND Mt. Rainier out the window all at once. It was so cool, I was nerding out hard.

We got back to Seattle at a decent time and peeked in the window of a house that is currently for sale, stopped by the grocery store and watched SNL’s 40th Anniversary show before calling it a night/day/weekend. I had a great first visit to Disneyland (minus the crazy crowds). I mostly really, really loved the sunshine and warmth. I loved collecting Disney pins for my lanyard that held my room key and park pass; it’s now hanging in my office. And I was a little disappointed I didn’t find the plain, crewneck sweatshirt with Mickey on the front of my dreams, but I did come home with a sweet Mickey mug and a magnet and lots of good memories, so at least there’s that. I think we’ll be back in the not too distant future, next time hopefully with Dustin’s nieces.

Sunshine + Sadness, too (PNW January Happenings)

^^Oregon from Washington: Mt. Hood, Hood River & the Columbia River Gorge^^

While the rest of the country has been experiencing extreme winter storms and cold over the past few weeks, the PNW has been unseasonably warm and sunny and amazing. If you don’t believe in global warming, look at that picture above, of 60 degree weather + Hood River, OR, and Mt. Hood, and the Columbia River Gorge in JANUARY. Proof.

Two weekends ago I spent the weekend in White Salmon after getting terrible news that Katie’s grandma was diagnosed with advanced terminal cancer. I spent most of the weekend at her house, hanging out with Katie and her dad who flew up from Ecuador, her uncle Steve and of course Grandma Bev who has been like a grandmother to me. She knew both of my parents when they were kids, and I spent a lot of time at her house growing up (she raised Katie) and even as an adult (when Katie and I were home from college for summers and every time we go back to visit). Grandma Bev, who is 87, seemed to be totally ok with the diagnoses and she seemed like she was ready to go when the time is right. So that made things (only) a little bit easier to deal with.

That Friday, after Grandma Bev was asleep Katie and I went on a mission to get drunk, because neither of us deal with stress well, apparently. We went to Henni’s for a drink (or 3 in Katie’s case :) and then I ended up in Hood River with Josh and Sarah and Kory taking all the shots #dontjudgeme. The next morning I woke up in Josh and Sarah’s spare bedroom spooning Kiva #somuchlove

^^Kiva and I love each other^^

Saturday I spent most of the day with Grandma Bev. My mom went with me to visit for a while and after she left Grandma Bev kept telling me that my mom looked “SO YOUNG” and saying that she even looked younger than me. Well, gee, thanks! Ha!

I snuck away for a bit while Grandma Bev was napping and Katie was picking up food from her mom’s house to have lunch in the sun at Feast with Beth. At one point I got too warm and had to take off my sweater. IN JANUARY!

Later that evening I went to watch the Gorge Roller Girls play their roller derby Bout in The Dalles with Josh and Sarah. Kory and Karen were also going so we sat together and gossiped and it made my heart happy. Plus the girls did an amazing job!! Double bonus.

^^The Gorge Roller Girls^^

The warm, sunshiny weather was so, so welcome. It boosted my mood a million times over. It has since started raining again but I’ll take what I can get. Plus I have a trip to California planned next week, so fingers crossed it will be nice while we’re there!

This past weekend I went to a Friday night Zumba class, I finished ALL OF GILMORE GIRLS! Have you guys watched? It was one of the best things ever. On Saturday morning I cleaned my apartment and did things I’d been neglecting for the past 2 months (because I spent all of that time watching Gilmore Girls). Saturday night Dustin and I went to Indian Vegas and I won $10 #ballingSOhard. And Sunday my heat broke in my apartment while I was at Yoga and I came home to a 80+degree house and couldn’t get it to turn off. So that sucked. I made Superbowl Mac+Cheese and brownies with all the windows open and the heat on blast. Eventually my landlord called and talked me through how to turn the circuit to my baseboard heaters off. Dustin and I went to our friends, Ben and Katie’s house, for the Super Bowl, which I’m sure you heard/saw, the Seahawks lost in the last minutes (ugh). And during the game Grandma Bev passed away. It was a devastating day. Dustin was super wonderful though and took me home after the game and put on Forgetting Sarah Marshall and let me drink a whiskey and fall asleep on the couch with tears in my eyes.

Last night I hung out with Katie and her husband Josh as they got ready to head to White Salmon for the week. They showed me how to take care of their cats and eventually Katie and I talked Josh into taking us to get FroYo by milking Katie’s sadness. Apparently it was national FroYo day yesterday(?!) and we got free FroYo. So I guess not all was bad yesterday :)

I will also be heading down to “the homeland” this weekend and I’m really trying to look forward to it. I love it there, so I’m sure it will be good.

The Portlandia Cookbook + Stuffed Dates Recipe

Cookbooks are one of my favorite things. I love reading them on my couch on Sunday afternoons and getting recipe inspiration for Sunday dinner and weekday meals. I love reading fiction and news on my kindle but there just isn’t a substitute for a hard copy of a cookbook with its glossy pages and beautiful pictures.

I recently acquired a copy of the Portlandia Cookbook. It’s not a cookbook I would normally head for, but Portland is one of my favorite cities, after Seattle of course, and I like watching Portlandia on Netflix when I’m doing chores on the weekend, so I decided to check out the Portlandia Cookbook not really knowing what to expect (Would it be funny? Would the recipes be directly from the show?).

The cookbook definitely has pictures and funny antidotes from the show but as far as I could tell most of the recipes weren’t taken straight from the show. Most of the recipes were of the spirit I would expect from watching the show, somewhat complicated and with some obscure ingredients and funny back stories. It was an entertaining read overall. My one complaint was that there seemed to be more pictures of the characters from the show then there were of the recipes. But I guess that’s what you get when you’re trying to make a funny cookbook and honestly it didn’t really make a difference when I was making the recipes I’ve tried so far, there was just less of an “oooh that looks good” effect while reading the book and more of an LOL effect.

While reading through the book for the first time, a recipe for stuffed manchego-filled dates caught my eye. A few days later, sweaty from Zumba, I walked to the PCC near my house to pick up the ingredients I needed to make the stuffed dates. The recipe makes 24 but I scaled that down quite a bit considering I was just making them for myself. Guys, I have to tell you, they were great. Sweet and salty and they would make a great appetizer for entertaining. Also, they’re super simple and quick to make, which is always a win in my book!

RECIPE FOR STUFFED MANCHEGO-FILLED DATES
(from the Portlandia cookbook) 

Ingredients:
24 Medjool dates
1/2 cup finely chopped Serrano ham (I used pancetta because I couldn’t find Serrano ham)
1/2 cup shredded Manchego cheese
24 Marcona almonds

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350degrees Fahrenheit.
While oven is preheating, make a small slash in each date and remove the pits, keeping them as in tact as possible.
Fill the cavities of the dates with a mixture of the ham and cheese and one almond each.
Close slightly and transfer to baking sheet. Bake until warm and the cheese is melted, about 8-10 minutes.
Enjoy!

 

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. All opinions are obviously my own.

The Gorge in January

Last week I was sick which was a total bummer. I struggled through work for a few days because of meetings and guilt from being gone in South America for two weeks, but finally I gave up and took some much needed sick time to rest, watch Gilmore Girls on Netflix and drink a ton of tea. Most of the people in my group at work have been sick the last two weeks, I guess it’s that time of the year. I would like that time to be over now. Also, January can be over too, while we’re at it #amiright?!

Anyway, last Friday breathing was at least bearable again and my energy levels were back up to a normal-ish level and I had a hair appointment scheduled for Saturday in Hood River, so I decided to drink some coffee head home for the weekend after checking to see that there was no traffic. I had only been back “home” once (Thanksgiving) since October and had Ecuador/Christmas prezzies for everyone I was anxious to get out of my tiny apartment. Double plus, Fluffy snuggles cure all things.

When I got into town on Friday I stopped by Beth’s house to see her puppy and chat for a little bit. I then went to my parents’ to spoon with my Fluffy cat like an adult and take a little nap (driving 4 hours is hard work, obvi). Eventually I got up and after visiting with my dad for a bit, headed down to hill to have dinner with Josh and Sarah at Everybody’s Brewing. Sarah and I split the pulled prok nachos which are never a bad idea (p.s. these). We then headed over to Hood River to meet a few friends before I called it a night. 

^^Fluffy snuggs^^

^^Friendship: Gavin (who I’d never met before), Beth, Jessica and myself^^

Saturday I lounged around my parents’ house all morning, soaking up the wood heat with my fluffy cat and my family. I gifted them their Ecuador prezzies and they gave me a picture I’d been wanting foreverrr. It is a picture a local photographer took of one of the old barns on my parents’ property with Mt. Adams in the background. The picture is printed on metal and it’s so, so gorgeous. 

 
^^THIS is my picture gift!! Photo by Darlisa Black^^

^^Fluffy, who is the only animal allowed in the house + his outdoor barn cat doppelganger, Lucky^^

After hanging at my parents’ all morning I realized I was kind of ravenous and I headed to Hood River to get myself a bagel and some green juice. When I was done eating I walked myself to Dog River for a cup of coffee and some reading and some chatting with Emily (Beth’s sister) and J Bunz who were working the counter.

I eventually walked down to meet Josh and Sarah and do a little shopping downtown before my haircut. Kalyn chopped like 6” of length off my hair (small part of waist –> armpit) plus gave me more bangs plus razor cut a million layers into my hair. It seems a v, v different to me, but so far almost no one has noticed so maybe it’s really not that different? Whatevs. At least now it won’t take 20 minutes to blow-dry, hopefully.

After my haircut I walked back to Josh and Sarah’s and we headed down to Camp 1805 Distillery to meet Tonya and have a happy hour drink (my choice: the White Manhattan) before dinner at Solstice, which was delicious and amazing per usual. My favorite place in the Gorge!!

After dinner Josh, Sarah and I went to the Pub to play a few rounds of Jenga (which our friends have written all over, over the years = amazing). We ran into a few other friends and it was a good, relatively low key night.

^^Jenga!^^

The next morning I slept in before meeting Gaby for a breakfast sandwich at River Daze and then coffee at Dog River. After we had got in all of our chatting about all of the things, I headed back to Seattle.

My heart felt so full and happy leaving. Even during a low-key weekend at home I still managed to spend time with so many people who make me so, so happy. I ate good food, I visited with my family, I snuggled with my cat and with Kiva and I left with white hairs allll over all of my black clothes (standard). I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ecuador days 5-9 + NYE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 
^^Cuy on the street^^

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

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

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

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

^^Stella^^

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

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

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

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

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

^^NYE KISS, SRY BOYZ^^

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

KthxbyeFRIENDS!