Snow Days!

I love many things about Seattle. One of the most recent has been the weather. Not just the weather itself, but actually talking about the weather. It is a well known joke to talk about the weather, writing of such conversations as futile or simply to pass time. Well, in Seattle it is a legitimate and very common topic of conversation. Discussed with much seriousness. Monday and Tuesday I did not like the weather because it would not make up it's mind, it did make for many conversations about silly weather people and safe driving techniques. However, the last two days have been snow days! The storm did come!


Snow days! This California kid (me) finds this concept as fascinating as the average Seattle born kindergartner. My work has been shut the last two days due to unsafe driving conditions. Now if I had a different job this many not be the case, but lucky for me working at a fitness center where the average person is a bit older....they are not going to be out in these conditions. And so, the employees aren't either. The pure giddiness of waking up and seeing snow, calling in to work, and finding out we are closed has felt sort of like Christmas morning the last two days. I truly love my job, a lot, BUT this snow day thing is still pretty awesome.

Snow day 1: I had gone to bed with dry pavement and woke up to snow! I could tell it was snowy and white outside before I even looked out the blinds, there was this odd illumination through the curtain that was bringer than most mornings. I spent a longer amount of time than I would like to admit sitting with my coffee and staring at the snow fall. Beautiful. I ventured out on the still running city buses to Capitol Hill for lunch and margaritas with a good old friend whom I hadn't seen in awhile. On my way back, I stopped at my sister's house which seemed to have a ton of people at it. :) Some of her roommates were building a sledding run down the front stairs... this I did not participate in. I spent the rest of the evening playing board games and eating amazing food. Yum. Her food seems to be better than my food (family joke). ;) I walked home jamming to my Zumba music and wondering what the weather would be the next day.

Snow day 2: Well, I woke up and there was still snow, lots of snow. A coworker called and said we were closed. Alright, snow day number two. I did some boring but essential things like laundry and cleaning and then it was time for more snow fun. Quick a little fact: No one in the last two days had moved their car from the apartment parking lot. I love how cars stay put during Seattle snow. If it isn't essential, you don't do it. :) Today's adventure was cross country skiing with the best sister EVER in Woodland Park. Yup, this is the same Woodland Park that is green and grassy and my favorite place to run, it is just under 5" of snow. :) there were so many other skiers and a ton of little kids sledding. Seattle is full of life and people being outdoors, even when it is continuing to snow! (yes, it was snowing ALL day). What fun! I am finishing today with cooking brownies and eggplant pizza. I would call that a successful snow day 2.

Sister Sarah skiing!

Still trying to be a food photographer....

Greenlake! The best running place in Seattle. (Yes, there were hard core people running today.)

Pretty houses with pretty snow.

Make sure you do your pull ups while skiing around Greenlake!

Sarah doing her skiing pull ups.

Now we are just being silly.

Melissa + Chandler, thank goodness your wedding was in the summer with roses and no snow! :)

Snowman friend, chillin' on a bench.

The next question is what will happen tomorrow? I would actually like to go to work, get a few things done before my upcoming vacation. The weather report is changing constantly. I guess this is another lesson in flexibility. I will decide tomorrow morning if I am going to work.


Have a safe and warm evening friends! :)

Last weekend of July

I can't believe July ends today. I have been terrible at blogging the last two months. I guess that means I have been busy with other adventures, so maybe it is not that terrible at all. :) I thought about just skipping the last two months and starting with this weekend, but i know some friends far away enjoy this blog to keep up with me. So instead I decided to recap my last two months in bullet points and pictures, following that is this weekends exploring. Happy reading!

- I went to Leavenworth, WA for the first time on a camping rafting trip with an awesome group of people from University Presperterian Church.

- Ran the SURVIVOR MUD RUN with two coworkers. It was so muddy, rainy, and a blast.

- Rock and roll half marathon. 1 hour 58 minutes. :)

- I have started working at a retirement home teaching fitness and other classes there. I am rnjoyingr it immensely!

- trip up to see my parents in Bellingham. they have workout equipment in the park! amazing!

- Fourth of July at the Stolz house. A wonderful weekend with delightful people.

(for pics see Cassie's blog, http://daisiesgoby.blogspot.com/2011/07/bloggers-block.html)

- Two of my cousins got married!!!!!! beautiful ceremonies, I am so excited for both of them.

-I had a few fun weekends with out of town guests, Kellie and my aunt and uncle! Both visits included sunshine, food, and walking tours. :)

Whew! I think those are the highlights.

This weekend my friend Melissa and I had a mini road trip adventure. A little background here, Stephanie and i were in high school advanced theatre together. She continued on with theatre and now lives in Seattle! Melissa and I went up to mount Vernon to see her perform in the northwest Shakespeare festival!

Melissa and I left Seattle in the morning and had a bunch of mini stops on our way north. We stopped at nordstrom rack! The awesome part here is I had purchased a rain coat at a different store a few weeks ago. I realized the jacket was missing a sleeve sintcher thing. This store nada another jacket. I asked the sales associate if I could just take the sleeve thing and they said sure. Cool. :)

Then we made it up to mount Vernon and found the outdoor theatre. We set up our picnic blanket and laid out our picnic lunch. The show was "As You Like It" and they were doing it as a moving show. The audience followed the actors around. We started standing, the entered the kings hall, and then sat our our blanket for the whole second act. The show was so fun and the actors did a great job. Melissa and I agreed we coudldnt ask for a better way to spend a Saturday than watching a play, sitting in the sunshine, and eatting our amazing picninc lunch.

After the play we continued north and made it to Bellingham. We wondered around Fairhaven a bit, seeing the best little shops and finding a few new ones! They have an olive oil/basaltic vinegar tasting room/shop!! How cool! As if I needed another reason to think bham is cool. The sales associate wanted us to try everything, so we kind of did. Truffle olive oil, chipotle olive oil, coconut and lime olive oil, truffle basaltic, etc.. Yummmmm

We went to my parents house for dinner. It is always a joy to see my parents. I love them. We ate great home cooked food and then decided to go for a walk along the board walk. On our first pass along the boardwalk we saw this young man with a Punic blanket and candles arranged on a rock spelling " Erika marry me" We stopped to talk to him, he was so nervous. We wished him luck and tried to guess who Erika was.

Further along the boardwalk we came to a little park and an outdoor music festival. Spoonful of loving was the band and dancing was what the audience was doing. Enjoyment. Smiles. Peacefullness. Sunset. Music. Happiness.

Mom's garden!

Beautiful Bellingham view!

Dance dance dance!

Downtown Fairhaven

Eventually we decided to leave the show and head back to the car. Erika was now sitting o the picnic blanket too, we clapped and congratulated them. Joy.

After picking some dasies from my parents yard and giving big hugs, melissa and I got back in the car and headed back to the city.

Sunshine Adventures

This weekend has been sunny and clear and the whole city came alive. And that might be an understatement. People were out in force. Shorts, tank tops, sun dresses, shirtless men, and dogs were all over this beautiful city. :)

Saturday morning I picked up my friend Stephanie and we headed out to Redmond's Watershed Preserve. We were participating in the Mud and Chocolate run! A 4.5 mile trail run around this park that concluded with a chocolate buffet! Neither of us had exactly trained for trailing running, but with the beautiful blue sky, tall trees, grass, and lots of catching up to do we set off. We ran the whole way and finished in just over 46 minutes! After visiting the chocolate table we then got back in the car and headed back to the city.

Proud finishes with our chocolate medals, behind some treats.

View from 520 looking back towards Seattle with the Olympic Mountains in the background!

My sister moved in across the street! (literally, we can go from my front door to her back door in about 30 seconds). I came home from the race and she was looking at her garden area. The only logical thing to do next was to have lunch together! We sat on my front porch with our lunches and chatted with a friend who rode his bike past our houses. Seattle feels small in moments like this. :)

That afternoon I headed back to Capitol Hill to wander around the city with Stephanie. We were both feeling good from our run; but we definitely felt walking up the hills! We wondered around Broadway looking at costume shops and other stores. We stumbled upon a tea store with so many different kinds of tea it was crazy! It had a cute modern feel and the tea was delicious.

We concluded our wandering at Cal Anderson Park. I have seen this park from the road many times and have always wanted to go there. There was no water in the fountain, but it was still fun to sit in the sunshine, people watch, and talk about life. 

The Tea Shop

Cal Anderson Park Fountain minus water

My "touristy" Photo

Blue Skies and park!

All in all it was a wonderful day with friends.. and the sun didn't hurt much either. :)

May 2011

I fell off the blog wagon. I'm not sure how that happened; but sadly as with many things in life something would get a higher priority or I would choose sleep over blogging. But the good news is that seeing my wonderful friend Cassie (whom we each started our blogs separately at the same time) reinstated that desire to share my life adventures with my family and friends that are far away. I saw Cassie on Wednesday, and it is now Monday...but I am still getting caught up. :) Since I haven't blogged in over a month, my plan is to recap the last month since I do not think any of my readers have time for a short novel. 


May began with Mothers Day! I love my mom! She is a wonderful woman and a great teacher to my sister and I. At our moms request, my sister and I went and got our pictures taken professionally! What fun! Yes we were standing in the photography studio with a bunch of 3 year old in pretty dresses, but we had a blast and the photographer did too. The pictures turned out wonderfully and our mom was overjoyed to have them.


The next weekend my parents came down to Seattle, picked me up, and then went to my aunt and uncles house. I thought it was just for brunch, but it turned out to be a brunch/birthday surprise for me! I didn't even think of that! haha My birthday was the next week. I love happy surprises. And a candle in a muffin along with presents definitely made me fee appreciative and joyous. It is always fun to see my aunt and uncle too, hearing stories of how their new/old house is coming. Laughter is always a part of these visits. Little did I know how true that statement would be! (you'll find out a few paragraphs down) :)

BIRTHDAY! My roommate Matt's birthday is the day before mine. We have been talking about a joint birthday party for almost the entire length of our lease (ohh 9 months or so). It finally was here!! We wanted a Rubik's Cube party and the result surpassed our wildest dreams! Every person came in a solid color of clothing and then once the party commenced we began to trade. And trade we did! Every new outfit felt like the greatest fashion success in history. Laughs were so abundant, smiles filled the rooms, and colors were everywhere. It was an extremely successful and fun party.

 

To make this month even more wonderful Cassie returned to Washington!! I always am so excited when I know we are going to be reunited.  I have a lucky work schedule and have the afternoons off Monday and Wednesdays. I met up with Cassie, her boyfriend Greg, Lisa her sister, and Lisa's boyfriend Riley Wednesday afternoon. We wondered around Pike Place and downtown Seattle. Cassie really ended up looking like a local, let me tell you! 

Cassie's dad had given her tickets to the Sounders game! WOO! I love the Sounders. I went to three games last season and was so excited to be going back. Cassie, Greg, my roommate Matt, and I walked expectantly through the rain to the stadium. These were club level tickets. Meaning we were sheltered from the rain and we got a dinner/dessert buffet! I'm pretty sure our expressions portrayed "Is this real?" the entire time. My suspicions were confirmed as Cassie and I were constantly asked if we needed any help by event staff. Nope, we've all got each other and we naturally get extremely enthusiastic when together. So I think we had it under control; well everything under control except our smiles. The Sounders lost the game; but being there with Greg (a HUGE soccer fan), Cassie, and Matt was wonderful.

I'm so happy they are visiting! Go Sounders.

We didn't win...but they still look mighty happy..

Folklife Festival was happening at the Seattle Center during Memorial Weekend. We were going to my cousins wedding Saturday/Sunday, so my sister and I went Friday night! Folklife Festival has been going on 40 years; it is a free festival of music, art, and folk culture expression. I must admit I was a bit overwhelmed at the variety of people and music going. Once I got a lay out of the festival and we got food in our stomachs I felt ready to explore. We watched a funk band with even funkier dancers, a flamenco dance group, a blue grass band, contra dance, and a band one of my sisters friends plays in. I can't believe that all happened in just a few hours! I am excited for festival season in Seattle, although wearing 2 layers and a windbreaker made it feel more like fall than spring. Rumor has it we have to warm up sometime!

This last weekend my family caravaned down to Portland, OR for a wedding!!! My cousin Anna got married!! Anna's youngest sister said that the rehearsal dinner felt like they were playing dress up but it is real life. What a prefect way to say it. I am so excited for Anna and her husband Zack; but it is crazy that we are all growing up and soon will all have our own lives and little families. The wedding was beautiful and sweet. God brought Anna and Zack together and I am exited to see where their lives lead next. Anna has 3 sisters and the four of them are my only cousins! So I grew up one of 6 female cousins and now we are slowly adding men into our family mix. haha (The next wedding is in July!!)





Seeing my dad reunited with his two brothers was so special too. (We missed Aunt Nancy and Uncle Andrew). The three of them look so much alike, well with more hair than my dad! Love ya dad! What a wonderful weekend of joy, love, and laughter! Pictures will tell more stories. I did not take any pictures at the wedding :( So these are from the next day brunch at Uncle Brian and Aunt Karen's house.

Brothers!

Looking our best. :)

COUSINS! (minus bride Anna who is on her honeymoon!!)

So May is almost over, but perhaps I'll do/learn a few more things that will make this month unbelievably good. Life is good. I am so thankful for my family and friends. All I can express is my appreciation and love for it all.