Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween, friends!

 

Halloween hasn't traditionally been my favorite holiday (usually because I am being too grinchy to dress up or you know, enjoy the fun of the day), but when I dress up and put out decorations and plan fun things with awesome people, it somehow becomes one of my favorites.

 

This last weekend I went home to White Salmon to go hunting and have some Halloween fun with my besties.

 

After a Friday night "in" with Beth and Marissa which involved a yummy dinner, the cutting of a Yolandi wig and a few dance parties, we were ready for a Saturday night out. So, Saturday evening I dressed up and got my face painted, and then we went out and had a blast. Here are some [spooky] pictures from Saturday night in Hood River. 

 

 

 

 

Today everyone is bringing their kids to work to trick-or-treat at each of the offices. Later, Dustin and I are going to love on our black cat and have friends over for cupcake/cookie decorating and candy corn vodka. Are you doing anything fun today? I would love to hear. 

 



Dustin’s Birthday

On Friday Dustin got some exciting news at work so we went out for congratulations/early birthday dinner. I love having a great sushi place just a block away. I’m not sure this living in the city thing will ever get old.

 
We spent the rest of the night watching last week’s SNL and hanging out on the couch.

Saturday was Dustin’s birthday so I made him bacon, hash browns and biscuits+gravy for breakfast. He wanted to relax for his birthday so we spent a lot of the day hanging out at the apartment, watching football (well, he watched football, I read magazines). I also made cupcakes and Dustin opened presents. I love birthdays.

In the evening, we ventured out for a little shopping and then came home before walking up the street for some Chinese food (Dustin’s favorite). When we got home I sang happy birthday and Dustin blew out his candles:

Today he left on a business trip #totesimportant #imisshimalready

I really love that guy.

Happy birthday, Dustin! I hope your day was as wonderful as mine.

5 things

1. I got my bar results back on Friday morning, a little after midnight (talk about tired and delusional, that is way past my bedtime). The verdict: I passed the substantive portion (which is the big, two day long, know all the laws part) and failed the (two hour) professional responsibility part at the end. So I technically did not pass and I will be re-taking (only) the PR portion in February. Wah wah.

2. I'm loving my new job. So much. Microsoft is #totesamaze. Also high-five to myself for having a job that doesn't care that I didn't pass all of the bar, am I right?

3. I participated in a little fall friendship swap recently and I got my box of fall goodness last nigh. I was paired with Arika and she sent me these awesome goodies (nail polish, a nail file, a yummy candle, tea, and an awesome cookbook):

Yes, I was wearing a Canadian Tuxedo. Bam! #denimondenimlove

4. The rain is officially back in Seattle. Hello 9 million months of winter (and by winter I mean rain). Time to bust out the boots.

5. I went home a few weekends back for hops fest and my friend Jessica's baby shower and my dad's birthday and some BFF time. I packed so much into one weekend, but it was so good. I still need to blog about it. In the mean time though, I'll share with you one of my favorite parts of the weekend:

Hanging out with KITTENS! Fluffy is a cat-uncle. They are the cutest, fluffiest kittens. A trip back home to visit them (and my Fluffy cat, who will always be my favorite) is definitely in order soon.

Portland Wedding Fun

A few weekends ago Dustin and I went to our last wedding of the season (shed a tear, wedding season is over). The wedding was in Portland so we drove down on Saturday morning, giving me just enough time to walk over to Nordstrom, drool over some Proenza Shouler bags, buy a big shirt (aka dress – the one you see below, to be more specific) and wander happily for a few minutes before we had to start getting ready. Ahh staying downtown, so good…

The view from our hotel room 

The wedding was perfect. It was held in a sort of understated and rustic venue right across a bridge from downtown. There was awesome food, awesome people and lots of drinks (what better form of social lubrication, am I right?).

 Signature Cocktail, don’t mind if I do…

Dustin even gave a speech. And his speech was so good. What a guy!

I’ll miss you, wedding season! Until next time…

What I wore | big shirt & necklace from Nordstrom and bright pink NARS lipstick

Exciting News

I have some big news (although if you follow me on twitter or IG (rebekaann) you might already know) I got a new job! Wait for it… At Microsoft in the legal department! I could not be more excited! Whoot! It looks like I’m starting not next week but the week after.

I got the job through a random connection, so my advice to you, fellow law-job-seekers (or really anyone): if you’re looking, don’t be afraid to tell everyone that you’re looking. Someone may hear of something and recommend you and you will get called in the next day and only do a 1/2 interview because that person said such great things about you and the person you’re interviewing with will love you. Or maybe I just got really lucky?

Either way, here is a crappy iPhone self-photo of what I wore (Microsoft is super casual, normally I would have wore a suit):

pants J Crew | shirt H&M | shoes a last minute H&M purchase as well

Friday

 I took this photo earlier this week on the way home from a 13 hour work day
(picture of the Great Wheel and the Puget Sound)

I always really love Fridays.

The rest of the weekend is good too. But on Friday you really feel like you deserve the night off, you know? It’s immediate gratification after a week of work.

I’m especially excited today about the fact that it’s Friday. I’m pretty sure it has been the longest 4 day week ever, it’s beautiful outside and I have plans to grab a drink with some friends and co-workers after work. Hooray for Friday.

What are your Friday plans? Do you love Friday as much as me?

the fire

Last night, as I was leaving work after an awesome event we hosted, I picked up my phone to find that I had been bombarded by phone calls and text messages from my friends and family. A forest fire was headed right toward my parents’ house.

picture text from my mom last night, taken from the front yard of their house

My parents live outside of White Salmon (which is a small town on the Washington side of the Columbia River) on some acreage which is key to their livelihood (especially my dad’s). Losing the houses (both the house they live in now and the house my dad and my brother and I grew up in), the barns, and all the forest land would be completely devastating in so many ways.

I have obviously been a wreck since I heard and I’m sure I look less than professional today at work.

The latest news though (via text from my mom), is that the wind died down and then recently picked back up, but is now blowing away from our house instead of straight toward it. It’s good for us, not so good for others. I’m really hoping they get it put out soon. So many of our wonderful friends are fighting it right now. So many of our other friends’ homes are also in danger.

Whenever something like this happens it really makes everyone appreciate the things we might normally take for granted: our homes, family, friends (who have been so amazing, especially Beth and Marissa who offered to help in any way they could, like by taking care of my Fluffy Face Cat so he wouldn’t burn up).

It also makes you feel lots of anger and resentment toward the idiots of the world. Yes, I’m looking at you, person who started these devastating forest fires (all 5 of them) with your sparking car breaks.

So I guess the moral of the story is go hug all of the people you love and send all of your good energy toward White Salmon.