Dad Update + Sarah’s Housewarming

 ^^My dad and I^^

My dad has been having some health issues for the past few months which has been scary and has resulted in a few really urgent, answer a crying phone call, leave work and drive 4+ hours straight to the hospital in the Gorge to be there with him trips. After they figured out what was going on with him it became clear that he needed a few surgeries to get him back to healthy and one was last Thursday in Hood River. I drove down to White Salmon after work on Wednesday and really, really early Thursday morning my mom, dad and I went to the hospital in Hood River for surgery. It went well and the photo above was taken right after, while he’s trying to wave to the camera (see: blur at bottom of photo). The best. He has one surgery left, a big one, at OHSU, then hopefully he will be back to business as usual.

Friday my dad was home and confined to his recliner and I worked from home so I could hang out with him (read: make him sit the FUCK DOWN, and wait on him hand and foot! – he was much better this time around) while my mom and brother were at work. We watched a lot of the Price is Right (which brother Jim and I got tickets to go to in person in October!!) and extreme Alaska survival shows, and gold mining shows, etc. You get the picture. There was also a lot of snuggling with Fluffy and dancing Zumba dances on the patio (for me, not him) and working furiously on my laptop (for me, not him) drinking tea and ranting about things we hate.

Saturday my mom was home and I got to sneak out to go visit Joe and Karen for a bit which was the best.

And did I tell you that my friend Sarah bought a house? Well, if not, Sarah bought a house! In Hood River. It’s really beautiful. So Saturday evening we had a housewarming party to celebrate her being a grown-up (yay Sarah!! I’m so proud of you!!) and it was really fun. It was so nice to take a break from family stuff and spend some time with good friends while drinking a Moscow Mule (or 2…) and eating grilled meat. Oh, and petting Kiva dog.

Oh, and good story: at one point during the night I went to use Sarah’s restroom and had my phone in my back pocket which is never a smart idea. Pulled down pants, phone fell in toilette, I immediately picked it out, dried it off, used restroom, phone was still working, told Sarah, she freaked out, we put my phone in a cocoon of a million wool socks and put it in the dryer on low heat and it somehow, still works?! I’ll take it. And hopefully I’ll never do that again.

^^Sarah and I attempting to take a picture^^

 ^^Friends doing fancy tequila shots to celebrate^^

^^Sarah’s childhood BFF, Lindsay, and me. We bonded. She is the coolest^^ 

Before Sarah had even signed the papers on her new house I called dibs on the spare bedroom the night of her housewarming party (I guess this was also pre-deciding-she-was-having-a-housewarming-party too, but whatevs). I spent the night at Sarah’s with a few of her (our?) other out of town friends and the next morning we watched some bad netflix, played ladder ball in the sunny front yard and eventually walked to a local restaurant for pancakes. Yay for grown-up (non-sexual) sleepovers :):)

It was nice to be back at home for so many days in a row, see friends, hang with my family, and snuggle the shit out of Fluffy (so many naps). I can’t wait to go back!

Ocean Shores Trip 2015

^^Natalie, Ambur, Erin, Brittan and I super excited to be at the beach!^^

Friday after work, Dustin and I drove to Ocean Shores, WA, to meet our friends (Ambur, Adam, Rob, Brittan, Natalie, Erin, Pat and Paul) for the weekend. We rented a huge house on the beach that sleeps like 37 people (overkill? maybe.), it was magical.

We immediately headed to the beach on Friday when we got to town because it was sunny and warm and beautiful. The beach was magical minus the fact that millions of these blue jellyfish had washed up on the beach and were now decomposing on the sand… Once you got used to them, though, it wasn’t too bad.

^^Ambur, Erin, Brittan, Natalie and I^^

Friday night we had a fiesta complete with margaritas and tacos and games and decorations and hats and an end of the night bonfire with birthday cake.

 
^^Pile on Rob’s truck!^^

  
^^There we go, practically a music video shoot^^

Saturday morning I made biscuits & gravy with cheesy scrambled eggs for everyone. The girls then complained about wanting OJ for long enough that Rob went out and got us some (thanks Rob!!). He could have also agreed to go to the store for OJ so he didn’t have to listen to our conversation about getting #reckedthroughyourrectum. No joke. Apparently “booty bumping” is a real life thing (that none of us do/have ever done) but is super funny to joke about when you’re hungover. We spent the rest of the day in the warm sunshine at the beach drinking screwdrivers and beers. We did yoga in the sand and practiced handstands and Brittan and I made up a really awesome dance-type routine that we totally nailed. #skillz

While we were at the beach Natalie and I found a live crab overturned in the low tide. When we realized he was still alive we named him Jesus the Crab, took pictures with him, and then set him free in knee deep water. He immediately swam away when I put him back in the water! Hooray for Jesus the Crab!

^^Jesus the Crab. Isn’t he cute?!^^
 ^^Fake acro yoga^^ 

Late Saturday afternoon there was a lot of napping, eating tortilla chips dipped in leftover sausage gravy and leftover birthday cake and leftover tacos. We watched Step Brothers, and then people started partying again. I didn’t make it up very late or party very hard (am I getting old?!?!), but there was definitely a few who lasted until like 5am taking shots of beer and then slapping each other (I don’t understand either?! But the Snapchats were hillarious). Ha!

Sunday there was waffles and eggs for breakfast and clean up time and then Dustin and I headed back to Seattle where we ate seafood for late lunch (because we failed at that activity while we were at the beach) and did chores and watched The Interview and called it an early night.

Now, I leave you with the funniest picture from the whole weekend:

^^Senor Brittan and Senorita Dustin^^

The End!

#supersizemeweekend AKA SPRING BREAK 2015 in Canada!

A few weekends ago it was Gaby’s last ever spring break. I had been begging her to come visit me in Seattle for like a million years so she finally obliged, drove up to Seattle and insisted we go to Canada for a girls’ weekend.

She got to town on Friday evening and I had a glass of wine waiting for her when she arrived. Natalie joined us for a drink at my apartment before her date, and when Natalie was telling us she was having the worst week we INSISTED that she drop everything Saturday and come with us to Canada! She agreed and then left for her date. #success

Gaby and I then headed to Ballard where we ate seafood at the Ballard Annex and drank delicious spring break-y drinks in coconuts at Hotel Albatros and met my cousin Maegin for more drinks and funtimes.

 
^^Tropical drink in a coconut to get me in the Spring Break spirit^^

^^Coconut drink for Gaby toooo^^

The next morning I learned a valuable lesson: I am never, ever allowed to mix wine and other alcohol together or I will vomit.

Gaby and I woke up early-ish, headed to Whole Foods for snacks and coffee then headed to pick up Nat. By the time we got to Natalie’s apartment I was feeling terrible. I walked around outside for a few minutes, took some deep breaths, drank some green smoothie and felt a little better but after we scooped her up, before we were even at the freeway I announced I needed to pit stop at my apartment to vom. Oh god. We stopped, I ran inside, did my thing, and was back out in the car ready to go in about 5 minutes. I felt a million times better, but seriously, no wine mixing for me ever again!

We planned to stop at the Lululemon outlet on our way to Canada and we were all looking forward to that almost as much as Canada itself. We all found a few good things to purchase and on our way back to the freeway from the outlet we spotted a McDonalds and HAD to stop. Fun Fact: Natalie and I LOVE McDonalds. Specifically we love Filet O Fishes. A lot. We rarely let ourselves eat them, because EW, but OMG SO GOOD! So we stopped, got our fast food and we were SO happy about it:

^^Nom nom nom, Nat and her Filet O Fish + GIANT Iced Coffee that almost gave her a heart attack^^

^^Filet O Fish 4evaaaaaa^^

Natalie even doubled up and got TWO Filet O Fishes which we’ve always talked about doing but never do, because EW. I was very proud of her. We were so giddy after our fast food we couldn’t stop laughing in the car. Natalie decided that we should dub our weekend #supersizemeweekend and caption all of our weekend’s InstaGram posts exclusively w/ Taylor Swift lyrics. Done. We listened to ONLY Taylor Swift and Tove Lo the whole trip, so it seemed fitting. We also talked about ONLY eating McDonalds for the whole trip (did you know you can get poutine at McDs Canada?!?!) but that definitely didn’t happen. #hopescrushed #nexttime

When we finally arrived in Vancouver BC, our first stop was Granville Island. We decided we needed some day drinks and headed to Granville Island Brewery for a few delicious tasters. After our beers we walked around the island for a little bit until it started pouring rain at which point we headed to our hotel.

^^Gaby and I at Granville Island^^

After checking into our awesome hotel and getting settled we headed out to Robson St. to do some shopping and exploring despite the rain. Eventually we got hungry and headed to our hotel to dry off and take advantage of the free WiFi to find a place to eat. We found a Mexican joint on Granville St. that sounded awesome and walked over to find that there was about an hour wait. No. It was 9pm and we were starving. While we were regrouping outside the restaurant a super creepy man with missing teeth and meth face walked up to us:

Super Creepy Man: Hi
Natalie: Hi
SCM: What are you ladies up to tonight?
N: Trying to find something to eat.
SCM: Oh, well, my friends and I are going to get a hotel room and then go to the club, do you want to join us?
Me: NO. KTHXBYE. *grabs friends and runs away* (sooo not into sucking your dick for meth in a hotel room, EW)

We decided to get the F away from Granville St. and on our way back to the hotel saw a Joey [test] Kitchen and decided that was safe and close and we should definitely just go there to eat because we were soo hungry and cold and sooo wet too. 

After dinner we went back to the hotel to regroup and Gaby started sharing stories with us trying to convince us to go out and party time USA because SPRING BREAK! and Natalie and I would not have it because we are effectively grandmas at 28 (apparently the difference between 22 and 28 is night and day, sorry Gaby!). So we stayed in because it was rainy and cold and we wouldn’t let her have any fun and instead of doing anything fun we basically convinced her to break up with her boyfriend and took snapchats of her camel-toe (that all sounds a lot meaner than it actually way). Soooo successful spring break?

The next morning it was still fucking pouring rain and we ventured out to breakfast. The place we wanted to go had an hour and a half wait (WHAT THE FUCK?!) so we found a crepe place nearby and called it good. We ate crepes and drank coffee and then went to Lush to buy some lotions and bath bombs and things (I’m now obsessed) and then decided it was too wet for more walking around so we headed back to America.

When we got back we realized that our friends Brittan, Ambur, Adam and Rob were also in Vancouver just a mile or two away from us. WTF? Fail. We drove back to Seattle, dropped Gaby at her car and she headed back to Hood River.

It was so fun having her for the weekend. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a really long time. We need to have another Natalie/Rebeka/Gaby trip involving McDonalds, Tay-Tay and day drinks ASAP. Spring break 2015, OVER.

Great Wolf Lodge & Gaslight Concert Weekend

Two weekends ago Beth came up to visit for the night on Friday. Her (our) friend Ashley had bought us all tickets to see Gaslight Anthem play in Seattle for the second time and we’d been talking about the show for months. I was able to leave work a little early on Friday and go hang out with Ashley and Beth on Ashley’s house boat for a few hours before the show. We eventually got hungry and decided to go grab some Mexican food and margaritas for dinner downtown. I could probably eat Mexican every day and be happy about it. It was a delicious pre-concert choice!

When we were finished with dinner we headed to the Showbox where we met Justin, a friend of a friend, because Ashley was selling him an extra concert ticket (her girlfriend was supposed to join us but missed her flight from Kansas and was stuck in SLC). Justin ended up hanging out with us during the show and we all had a great time together singing along from the elevated bar area in the venue.

^^Beth, Justin, myself and Ashley at the show^^

^^I ruin good pictures, sorry friends^^

It was so fun to hang out with Beth in Seattle, even if it was only for one night!!

The next day I woke up early and picked up Dustin from his apartment before heading down I5 South to the Great Wolf Lodge where we met Dustin’s sister’s family for a night of fun at the water park to celebrate niece Isabella’s 13th birthday!

^^a pretty terrible iPhone pano of the giant indoor water park^^

Dustin and I arrived before everyone else and got ourselves some bracelets to the park before heading inside to grab a beer and check things out (the fact that you could walk around the park with a beer in hand was a major PLUS for all the grownups in our group:). The park is totally indoors and it’s heated to about 85 degrees F which was really nice. Inside the park there were a bunch of fun and kind of terrifying waterslides (some required a tube, others you went down on your back), a wave pool (my favorite), some kiddy pools, hot tubs, and a giant structure that dumped a 1,000 gallon bucket of water over everything every few minutes. It was a really fun time.

Isabella and her friend, Becca, mostly did their own thing at the park, but I did join them for a few rides down the super scary water slides that required inner tubes, and I did teach them that spitting on someone can be considered a felony, so knock that shit off, and also I taught them the “tampon” game (where one person says tampon, then the next person says it a little louder, and so on. Apparently now the 2.5y/o won’t stop shouting TAMPON! Definitely my fault, sorry Dana! Haha). Dustin and I spent most of the afternoon hanging out with his sister, Dana, and her boyfriend, Justin, and their 2.5 year old daughter, Alessandra. We all had a good time, especially once Alessandra warmed back up to us.

When it was time for dinner we all went to the Buffet in the adjoining hotel for some delicious kid food (think: pizza, mac and cheese, chicken strips, etc.). I love me an all-white plate of food. That night the adults and Alessandra hung out in the hotel room (with some beverages for the adults) being silly while the mortified 13 year olds went to roam around the hotel (which is totally safe and there are lots of activities for kids to do around the hotel, like a magic quest).

^^Selfies with Alessandra^^

^^Photo cred: Alessandra^^

^^And again, Dustin and I in wolf ears, thanks to Dustin’s 2.5 year old niece, Alessandra^^ 

The next morning we got breakfast at the buffet before hitting the water park for a few more hours. Eventually Dustin and I called it a weekend and headed back up to Seattle where we grocery shopped and watched some March Madness and some Netflix before sleeping for a million hours because being at a water park with kids all weekend is exhausting but also super fun!

Easter Weekend 2015

I’ve had a busy and super fun past few weekends. I definitely want to write about them all, but I figure, let’s start with this weekend and work backward. I’m not totally sure if that makes the most sense but whatever.

On Friday my coworker Candice gifted me a yoga mat I’ve been eyeing for a while that she had an extra of (I love it, its totally magical, thank you Candice!!). I put my new-to-me mat to good use this weekend during two yoga classes. The first class was a relaxing, low key class held Friday after work at my gym. The second was a super fun, energizing, Saturday morning class held at the Chihuly Glass Museum.

 
The class took place in the Chihuly Glass House which is a 40-foot tall, glass and steel structure covering 4,500 square feet of light-filled space. The Glasshouse is the result of Chihuly’s lifelong appreciation for conservatories and it houses a 100-foot-long glass instillation, shown in the picture above. It was a really cool setting for the class and the instructor worked a lot of visual cues into the teaching which put the focus on the beautiful glass art and the Space Needle right outside.

 
After yoga I treated myself to a coffee at my favorite coffee place in Seattle, Zoka. While I was there I ran into my outside counsel, Phong, who I joke is my spirit animal because he guides me through all difficult things in life. I love running into people I know in Seattle.

^^Pretty flowers on the sidewalk outside of Zoka on Saturday^^

With my delicious Americano in hand, I went to the grocery store to get some goodies for Easter (I made Paula Deen’s banana pudding and it was a hit!) and then walked to an appointment near my house. Afterward I took myself to lunch at the nearby Latona Pub where I ordered a Double Mountain beer and a steak and mushroom salad and while I waited for my lunch, I sipped my beer and read a book I started Friday night and couldn’t pull myself away from. I ended up starting Wreckage by Emily Bleeker on Friday and finishing it Sunday evening. I couldn’t stop! I love books that captivate you like that.

After lunch I met my friend Natalie for another beer on the patio at The Yard in Greenwood because it was sunny and beautiful out and sipping a beer while engaging in girl talk in the sunshine is one of our favorite activities. Dustin joined us at The Yard after he was finished at the gym (we NEEDED his practical, guy advice for a very urgent matter, of course) and when Natalie had to leave, Dustin and I ended up running a few errands before grabbing dinner at our favorite sushi place by his house.

On Sunday Dustin and I went to Katie and Josh’s house for a delicious Easter Brunch complete with mimosas and cards against humanity. It was a good time. I think Katie and Josh’s for Easter is my new favorite tradition (this was my second year spending the holiday with them). I spent the rest of the evening finishing my book.

It was nice to spend a weekend at home after being gone the past few weekends. Yay for relaxing, yet fun weekends in Seattle. I hope you all had a happy Easter weekend!

FIVE things for Thursday

ONE
Seattle has been having a really, really mild winter this year. While it’s been kind of alarming (where is all the snowpack in the mountains?! what does this mean for summer and water supply?! and wildfire season?!) I know there isn’t really anything I can do about it so I’ve been soaking up the sunny days to the fullest extent (YAY SUN OMG BEST WINTER). Also, SAD seems to be at an all-time low this year in Seattle, so that’s amazing for everyone too.

Last Saturday was particularly sunny and warm (64degrees!!! In March!!!!) so I took advantage all day. Dustin and I woke up early after a homemade pizza Friday date night and walked up the street for brunch with all the beverages (water, coffee and a little booze X2). I then walked around Greenlake with my friend Kate before going shopping at the outdoor mall, University Village, with Natalie and Danielle. We ended the day by having GIRLS NIGHT in Ballard. There were martinis then French food for dinner and a fun bluegrass band after. Sidenote: throwing espresso in a fire is never a good idea. Don’t ask me how I know.

^^Blurry Bluegrass pic of Natalie, Danielle, me and Brittan, photobommed by 4 strangers^^

TWO
Sunday was sunny and warm too. I had some very important shit to get done, so I opened all my windows and my door and I turned on Netflix and binge watched the entire first season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It’s good, guys. I also finished (a million hours later) my super-cool paint by number, which is now, obviously, very proudly displayed in my office:

  ^^majestic paint by number picture^^

THREE
Sunday I also became even more of a crazy cat lady than I already was. Right before I opened my door to soak in all the warmth and fresh air, I hear meowing outside. So I opened the door to see what was going on and a ginger cat ran inside, through my living room, to my bedroom and jumped on my bed. WTF cat?! I chased him out and he continued to meow outside. So I went out, discovered he was friendly, checked him for fleas, then let him in because he was DYING to get inside. No idea why he chose me, but I like it a lot. His name is Oliver and he belongs to a neighbor down the street and he is SO sweet. Guys, I contemplated shutting him in my apartment and keeping him forever.

^^Oliver making himself at home^^

I left my door open the rest of the day and he would come and go as he pleased. He would disappear for about a half hour then come back for some pets and to lay on my couch or bed for a few minutes before going back outside. I love him.

Sometimes when I would pet him he would grab my hand with his little clawless paw and pull it in towards him and give it a lick and a snuggle. I died, you guys.

^^Is this not the actual cutest thing you’ve ever seen?^^

Then, on Tuesday, I got home and parked and saw an orange cat on the sidewalk and ran to it. The cat was so not nice and it hissed and swatted at me and I wanted to cry. So I went inside and got some pulled pork from my fridge and went back outside and upon further inspection this cat didn’t have a blue collar or any tags, and it was still really mean, so maybe it was Oliver’s evil twin? Either way it hurt my feelings. Come back Oliver!!

I bought fancy organic snack treats at Whole Foods yesterday in case Oliver ever decides to come back and visit.

See, crazy cat lady status, for sure.

FOUR
I recently got another book from Blogging For Books. Soul Food Love by Alice Randall & Caroline Randall Williams.

The first 70 + pages of the cookbook are all about the author’s family history. The cookbook is a compilation of recipes from 5 kitchens, 3 generations and 100 years. As a bonus (in my eyes) many of the recipes have been made healthy, which is what really appealed to me about this book.

I really like the fact that a lot of the recipes call for ingredients that are easy to find. In addition, the recipes are somewhat familiar but they aren’t necessarily recipes in my normal repertoire. I have quite a few of them dog-eared to try soon. Most notably, I’m excited to try the sweet potato broth (instead of veggie broth/stock in a soup) and the black-eyed pea hummus. YUM!

FIVE
I’m constantly trying to eat healthier and eat less sugar and drink less alcohol and exercise more and all of those things. For me it’s a constant balance between wanting to be healthy and wanting to live my life, sort of a balance between I have my shit together, I should have my health together too, and I have my shit together and I work hard so I should be able to eat/go out when I want and also, YOLO.

I feel like I generally do a pretty good job. I’m a big fan of the 80/20 rule (eat healthy 80% of the time, YOLO the other 20%). Although some weeks it’s more like 60/40. So is life I suppose.

This week I was craving sugar SO HARD. I don’t know if it was because of the time change or because of that time of the month or what, but the night of the third day (after not giving in at all) I finally caved and justified it by making cookies and saying at least that was better than going out and just buying FroYo or a piece of cake or something. Also 3 days of intense sugar cravings are dumb and I just wanted them to stop.

Anyway, that was a really long winded way of telling you about the cookies I made. They’re so, so easy and so good. Like pretty much the perfect peanut butter cookie – a little crunch, a little soft, chewy, great flavor - but with only 4 ingredients. Here’s the recipe I used, in case you’re interested:

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of peanut butter (I used creamy)
1 cup of sugar (wondering if you could use less and achieve a similar result?)
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

WHAT TO DO:
Mix all ingredients together, drop balls of cookie dough a few inches apart onto a baking sheet, use a fork dipped in water to make crisscross smooshes on the the top of the cookie.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350degrees for about 10 minutes until they start turning slightly brown (mine were closer to 12 minutes, but I think it probably depends on your oven and the size of your cookies).

^^4 ingredient PB cookie FTW^^

Please let me know if you decide to make them.

What have you guys been up to lately?!

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?