Contact 2015, New Years, visitors, and SNOW!

The week after Christmas, we went up to Vancouver for our very first CONTACT festival! I really and truly loved the venue, and despite the ultra low temps I had a great time. Even though I said no more festivals after this year, I'd definitely consider attending that one again.

After the drive home, we were so exhausted. But we had to get ready for our visitors - Andy, Alom, and Gary! They stayed with us three nights, and it went by way too quickly. We brought them to Burnett's for BNO, and Matt took them sightseeing the next day in Seattle. For NYE, we got a table at Aston Manor and it was the BEST IDEA EVER. We were the first ones to book the brand new enclosed area right next to the stage, and we had an awesome view of the DJ and crowd. Bottles and bottles later, we were all having a wonderful time, and certainly a happy new year. 

The week after the guys left, I got extremely sick and ended up sleeping for two days straight. YUCK! Hopefully that was my sickness for the year. That flu or whatever it was really hit me like a wall. I'm wondering if it was the cold weather, because we did actually have some snow that week. Forrest got to play in it! 

So far, this year has been great! I took a writing class with Chelsie already, and work is going well as usual. I can't wait to see what else 2016 has in store for me. I really have to shed my winter coat soon though -- boy, I layered up thick this holiday season! HAHA

Nan, Wiz/Fall Out Boy, and Mount Rainier

The past three weeks have flown by! Typical summer speed. Nan came to visit, and we ate lots and drank a fair amount - as expected. It was a short weekend trip, but we managed to squeeze in some good eats and a seafood bake before she left. Shrimp, crab, corn, and Korean goodies!

We also saw Wiz Khalifa and Fall Out Boy at the White River Amphitheatre that same weekend. Both sets were SO GOOD, and they even did two songs together. I went more for Fall Out Boy, and the guys only wanted to see Wiz; I ended up loving Wiz's stage presence just as much. And when Fall Out Boy did "Dance, Dance' and 'This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race,' I felt 19 again!!!!!!! I ended up buying one concert t-shirt for each performer. I had so much fun!

Work has been really busy, and I'm working on a few projects that are really stressful but exciting. They're totally worth the stress because these projects will directly impact my team (and work processes) in the long run. I'm hoping to take more classes in Fall, but I guess we'll see how my schedule looks in a couple of weeks. I attended the PSBJ Washington's Best Workplaces event at Safeco field last week, and had a blast. As cheesy as it sounds, I still feel so lucky to be loving my job and my company.

It's been at least a few weeks since the last nature adventure, but today we hiked Mount Rainier with Nick and Fei. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed in state parks. The Fremont trail was really easy, but a good workout nonetheless. We also got some great views! And I've always wanted to explore Mount Rainier. =)

On the way up! 

WE SAW A MARMOT. 

Nick + Steph + arugala

More visitors!!

On Sunday, Nick and Steph came over to play with Forrest. We ended up chatting for a few hours (with the Sharetea that they brought over *yesss*) and it was so nice to catch up! I used to go clubbing all of the time with Nick, and it made me think of how far we've come now. He and Steph are engaged and planning to buy property, they are so grown up! =P

When Matt came back from his bike ride, we talked some more before heading to Some Random Bar. I had a delicious Coffee Old Fashioned and the Seafood Bisque dish. Both were delicious! Because it was Sunday, they were flipping coins for beer orders - if you guessed heads or tails correctly, your beer was only $1! Matt got two beers, and guessed wrong both times. HA!

Then we walked over to Shiro's and had our real dinner there. Matt and I decided not to get the omakase, because we've done it before and wanted to try other things. The highlights of the night were the Black Cod, Geso Karaage (squid legs),  and the Geoduck Butter dishes. They were really delicious! I also ordered the regular sushi dinner, and everything was yummy! I'm actually glad that I didn't get the omakase. It was Steph's first time, and she did the Shiro's Omakase. She was disappointed and I don't blame her. The courses didn't even come out in the correct order. She was right when she said it wasn't worth $75!

We headed over to Feierabend after dinner, to get liters with Sean and Sarah! Matt finished his punchcard and got the t-shirt. I drank 1.5 liters of the coffee beer (coffee bevvies seem to be a theme) and was full of regrets when I couldn't sleep later! I have 7 punches now!!! At this rate, I'll get my t-shirt by 2018?

This morning, I did some work while I couldn't sleep but I had the day off for Presidents Day. Matt was working from home, but we did get to sneak away for lunch at Serious Pie with Nick and Steph. We ordered the yukon potato pizza (the only one that we didn't order with Nan and Alex last week) and it was amazing. Like a pizza made of chips! And of course we ordered the egg, prosciutto, and arugula pizza again. Nick and I also ordered the "Daily Shrub" drink, which was fruity and vinegary. Very interesting, I liked it!

I spent the rest of the day at the park with Forrest. We haven't been able to have long park visits since winter started, and now he's snoring in my lap. What a weekend!

a game of shadows

contemplating life

Nan + Alex + arugala

Nan and Alex (and Charles) came to Seattle, and we just kept eating... and drinking... and eating more. And all of the weight that I lost in the past month and a half... IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE! *sob*

The notable meals were Bear and the Bee, Walrus & Carpenter, Red Cow, Serious Pie, Stoup, and Reuben's (beer is a meal right?). For partying, went to TIA LOU for Nick's belated birthday. Two bottles and a few long islands later, it was everyone's birthday... especially David's. Oy vey, cleaning up the apartment is a nightmare. Probably won't have people over for a while. We also did our usual food spots like Brouwers, Boiling Point, and Menchies. I think they had a good time. I think they must also feel fat...

Milan-Torino at Bear and the Bee

The spread at Boiling Point.. Alex got the Taiwanese spicy one LOL

Red Cow gave us smoked trout for their 1 year anny

The oatmeal stout nitro from Reuben's

Awesome wall decor, also at Reuben's

And Stoup!

Bottle service!!

 Bottles all gone! 

Not pictured... the seven pizzas we ordered at Serious Pie. And they were SERIOUSLY GOOD! But Matt and I ended up taking the leftovers which didn't help... with the feeling fat. In fact, I felt so fat, that I actually cooked today. And we're really into arugula right now because we had some at Serious Pie.

And more arugula. Save me, arugula! From all the gluttony I have committed!

Visitors, Ursher, Thanksgiving in Portland, and MORE WEDDING!

Jon and Kathie were in town a couple of weeks ago! And Melissa's friends were also here for the weekend. We went to Aston Manor, and had SO MUCH FUNS.

We also saw USHER at Key Area!! Dude. DUDE. That body, those dance moves, and that voice. I'm so glad we went!!! As good as Beyonce? Almost. But I didn't cry like a baby, like I did at the Bey & Jay concert earlier this year, so probably not on the same level.

For Thanksgiving, Matt and I drove down to Portland, where Gary, Chad, Tiana, David, and Kevin were! John just moved back, and Charles came down too. I was so exhausted from PMSing.. unfortunately. But I still had a really good time. Thanksgiving dinner was gluttony, as per usual. We played games, watched movies, and even went to Punchbowl the second night! *YESSS!!!!* Totally bowled, and I haven't bowled in maybe ten years? We failed at Black Friday shopping. The only thing I bought... wasn't on sale. Ugh. Why do I keep trying?

We brought Forrest with us to Portland, and he was all shaking and anxious from being in a new place with so many new people. He wouldn't eat any dog food, but we managed to get him to eat some turkey. He wouldn't even eat his bully stick or his treats, which he normally will do ANYTHING for. Oh well, he lost some weight. And he got to sleep in the bed with us for both nights! He was ridiculously happy to be home, I guess he's just a homebody like me. First for everything though... first road trip! :)

And then we drove back Saturday morning, THROUGH SNOW, for the wedding! Lisa and Quanh got married in the ID, and it was pretty cool catching up with Matt's old coworkers.

And then this week at work we are sandboxing. OMG. I was so stressed out last week when we started delving into the use cases, and I'm so tired. This week I have things more under control, so I'm not feeling like smashing my head through my monitor, but I'll definitely be glad when it's all over. The experience is VERY VALUABLE to me. I've never been so involved with a project of this magnitude, and even though it is a lot to handle I am enjoying every bit of the learning experience!!

I have so many things to be grateful for this year. A great job, a loving boyfriend, a supportive family back home (and two amazing cities to call home), a wonderful puppy, and my health. Everything is awesome!

Visitors & Belated Birthday Dinner @Crush

Last weekend, Christina and Victor were in town! I haven't seen them since.. 2005 maybe? They're both in great shape and as lively as ever! Christina invited me to her brother's BBQ at their friend's house in Bellevue, so I headed there Saturday afternoon with my own Victor. We got a chance to catch up on years gone by, and we played ladder golf. I actually had a really fun time with the ladder golf and will definitely buy a set if I ever get a backyard.

Charles came up from Long View in the evening and we had dinner in Kirkland. We went to Volume later that night with a small group and decided to get champagne bottles for no apparent reason. Whatever, no big deal. LOL. Chinese food after as per usual and we called it a night early!

On Sunday Victor and I had kbbq with Charles, Sunny, and Amber. The best part of the conversation was Sunny doing an impression of his Korean father - it was absolutely hilarious. I still laugh when I think about it now. That guy has always got some ridiculous story up his sleeve, love it!

Sunday night Victor, Charles, and I went to Crush for dinner as a belated birthday for me. The food was awesome and the service was even better. Getting dressed up was fun! And the quiet, intimate atmosphere was different (in a good way). My favorite part was dessert, where for the first time in my life I was encouraged to order EVERYTHING on the dessert menu. Charles is awesome! Best belated birthday dinner ever.

Discovering the Seattleite Within

Over the past few weeks, I've started to become more attached to Seattle.

In one sense, literally - I just registered in Seattle and took out a new insurance policy in Washington. This is something I hesitated to commit to these past months because I wasn't sure I'd be staying. Now I'm sure, I'm staying. Well.. for a significant amount of time at least.

And in other sense, emotionally; I found myself very offended when Alex, Anthony, and their friend came to visit this past weekend and would not stop complaining. What could they possibly complain about, you ask? Well they said it was boring, that there weren't very many people, and that they had nothing to do. And I suppose if you show up somewhere with no plans, don't meet up with people or try to make new friends, and don't even try to enjoy a new place... then you certainly won't have fun, will you? I was very annoying. So, very, annoyed.

But some good did come of their visit. I met them at Pike Place the day that they arrived and got to have my first Piroshky Piroshky, and also my first bowl of Beecher's mac n cheese! And OH YUM, piroshkies are so good! I think I've only had one once before in my life, and I do not remember it being so tasty. One of my new fave foods :) I should go to Pike Place more often!

And on Saturday we drove up to Vancouver to party. Unfortunately, in Vancouver, the drinks are so weak that each of us was completely sober the entire trip even though I at least was drinking double my normal intake. It was .. fun.. but we definitely weren't having as much fun as the locals. I was actually glad to be home on Sunday - I think I would have enjoyed the weekend more if I'd stayed home and watched movies with Charles and Matt.

Anyhoo, here comes Christmas just around the corner. I already made my holiday rounds last week in San Francisco and spent plenty of time with my mom and brother. Colby actually came out with my friends, which was pretty cool. I think he had fun and I hope he joins us more often! I miss my family, but it's okay because I know they're doing well. I'm going to try and visit less because I've been back and forth every month since I moved. Even though I fly when flights are relatively cheap, they're really not THAT cheap. And I spent a lot more on gifts this year then I usually do. But hey - what the heck right? I'm making more money than I ever have made, even though it isn't much compared to everyone else.

This also seems to be the seasons of visitors :) Alex will be here this week, and Eric and Jen are coming first week of January. Exciting exciting! I hope people visit in the summer as often as they do in the winter, because I want them to see the lush Seattle beauty in full-force.

SF Visits Seattle

Visitors!!!!

But first, a few other exciting things that happened last week. First, I got a haircut on Wednesday! And second, I got a new phone on Thursday. I ended up with the Galaxy S II even though I had a tough time between that and the HTC Amaze. The galaxy definitely is a better looking phone but I wish it had a better battery life, or the ability to disable 4G.

Thursday night we went to The Last Supperclub where we met up with Andy, Brian, Chad, David, Priscilla, and Kevin. We drank and danced the night away, I was so excited to see them again! The club was dead, but that almost made it better - private dance party!! Everyone seemed to hit it off really well, and all of us who thought we would be leaving early that night failed.

The next day, I took the day off and Matt and Victor didn't make it to work. We slept in to recover and Victor and I left in the afternoon to try and surprise our guests! Thanks to the Groupme chat, I knew they were downtown somewhere so we drove around Hotel Five where they were staying ot try and catch them. No dice! I ended up just calling Chad and asking where he was. He and David had separated from the group so we were able to surprise the others at Pike Place Chowder.

Yummmm, chowdahhh. The seafood chowder was delicious. We walked around Pike Place after eating to check out the different flowers, foods, meats, and more. Four of the guys decided to go scootering so Victor and I took Priscilla and Andy with us back to the house to hang out. We watched parts of movies and some Kevin Hart, but Andy and P mostly napped. Later we left to meet Charles and Matt for kbbq in Lynnwood. Then after dinner, we headed back to my place to regroup.

More of the guys came over before we left again to go to Hotel Five then Trinity. The SF people really seemed to like Trinity but the Seattle guys wanted to go to PNK. I thought Trinity looked fun but I didn't really care where we went. We migrated to PNK and WOW it's a really nice venue. Super high ceilings and tall windows, photobooth outside against the high rises, awesome music! I really really like that place, so glad we ended up there. Everyone was having a great time dancing and before we knew it, it was last call. We went to Honey Court in chinatown for post-club nourishment and everyone gobbled up the panfried noodles before I got any! I was sad. Other than that though, it was a fun night.

On Saturday it was hard to get out of bed. Charles and Nick had slept over so we all went to get Pho down the street - well, except Charles who couldn't get out of bed. I think everyone was still drunk, most of the meal was loud giggling. And everyone looked like crap. After our breakfast we went back home and Matt and I went back to sleep. I got up an hour later to head out and meet up the SF'ers. We stopped by the Space Needle to take pictures and Alex and Lina went up. Everyone else either dropped off their scooters or went to Pioneer Square. We ate at Jimmy John's then did the Underground Tour. I am never doing the Underground Tour again.

For dinner we ate at Elliot's, YUM! And afterwards they went back to their hotel and I went home to drop off my car. I headed to The Garage for Eric and Lorraine's birthday celebration. The SF people came too! It was pretty fun but I was absolutely exhausted. Victor didn't feel well so we left earlier than the other folks and took Priscilla to get Javier's. We finally said our goodbyes and got home around 2, Matt and Charles arrived shortly after.

The weekend was SO EXHAUSTING, but I'm glad everyone came to visit. I hope they come back, in smaller groups for sure. I was most excited to see my Al Pals, I really miss them so. Halloween in SF will be excellent!