I just wrote up a long post about my upcoming weddings, but it magically disappeared after publishing. Hmph.
Anyhoo, up until now I had only been to 3 weddings that I can remember (since I'm not sure if I should count the weddings I attended at a young age). My first wedding reception was for Carrie and Long, my first ceremony and reception combo was for My and Ya, and then I attended another combo ceremony and reception for Matt's cousin's wedding in LA recently. And up until now, I've heard many people talk about the phase in life where all of your friends get married within a short span of time. I always thought to myself that it sounded so fun and exciting! Now that I've reached this infamous phase... it is actually stressful and very expensive. -____-
From now through the end of the year, I have 6 weddings to attend - 3 of which are in SF. Yikes! Geoff and Thea are having a black tie formal wedding next week, which will be exciting because everyone will be all fancy! The rest of the weddings (Christina/Victor, Lorraine/Eric, Lisa/Quanh, Anna/Everett, and Cindy/Thomas) will probably be regular wedding attire... I hope. Between finding dresses and accessories, planning trips back and forth to attend the events, buying gifts, and my family trip in October, I am so freaking stressed out. And overspending. I know that it's worth every penny because I don't want to miss the happiest moments in my friends' lives *cue the waterworks* but this is probably my most expensive year yet. It's nice to have pretty dresses, though, but really hard to find dresses that I love without spending too much. I have 3 new dresses so far, and no accessories... LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Clam out with your clam out!
Went clamming again! This time we went to Double Bluff Beach on Whidbey Island, and it was just as fun.
Forrest had a grrrrrreat time, and I'm pretty sure he had a lot of "firsts" that day. When we got on the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry, his tail went WILD. And he got the crazy eyes!
Sadly, dogs aren't allowed on the passenger decks so we hung out near the car. No worries though, only a 20 minute ferry ride to the island. When we got to the beach, there was a music festival setting up, and we were really lucky to be there early. At 10:00 AM the parking lot was already full, and we parked about 20 cars down the road from the park entrance. The walk out to the water was nice, lots of ocean life to see. And Forrest got to run free!
In fact, at one point, he was so excited to see the crabs that he turned into a sloth!!!!
When he didn't have other dogs to play with in the area, Forrest was poking his nose into crab bellies... that is, until he got snipped by one! He didn't play with crabs after that. =) There was lots of sniffing and exploring happening for Forrest while we dug for clams. Matt was on rake duty, I was on trowel duty, and Mel was on shovel duty. We poked around for a while before we found the sweet spot where all of the clams were hanging out. It was near the shell/rocky land, just like at Dosewallips! We ended up finding PLENTY of large horse clams but no other kind of clam. Although, I kept finding enormous mollusks - like the size of my head!
We certainly each caught our limits, and hauling the large horse clams back to the car was.... a gruesome trek. It was a good workout though, hopefully burned enough calories to make up for the chowder binge in advance!
Cleaning horse clams was... not fun. Matt was particularly bad at it, so I ended up doing almost all of our share of the haul. It must have taken well over an hour to get through all of them! And my hands and arms were tired already.
We seared some of the precious tongue meat and seasoned it with sesame oil, soy sauce, and chili paste for "dinner". We were too exhausted to do any real cooking. It was good though, almost like sashimi!
Today I made chowder with the rest of the clam meat, and oooooooh booooooy we have chowder for daaaaaays! I think I *may* have overdone it when eyeballing the measurements for this recipe...
After I packed two soup bowls for the freezer, and after we both ate dinner, we still have plenty of chowder left.
Aaaaaand a close up.
I'm pretty proud of myself for this "living off the land experience" -- dug 'em out, cleaned 'em, cooked 'em up, and now I ate 'ems!!!!
Forrest had a grrrrrreat time, and I'm pretty sure he had a lot of "firsts" that day. When we got on the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry, his tail went WILD. And he got the crazy eyes!
Sadly, dogs aren't allowed on the passenger decks so we hung out near the car. No worries though, only a 20 minute ferry ride to the island. When we got to the beach, there was a music festival setting up, and we were really lucky to be there early. At 10:00 AM the parking lot was already full, and we parked about 20 cars down the road from the park entrance. The walk out to the water was nice, lots of ocean life to see. And Forrest got to run free!
In fact, at one point, he was so excited to see the crabs that he turned into a sloth!!!!
When he didn't have other dogs to play with in the area, Forrest was poking his nose into crab bellies... that is, until he got snipped by one! He didn't play with crabs after that. =) There was lots of sniffing and exploring happening for Forrest while we dug for clams. Matt was on rake duty, I was on trowel duty, and Mel was on shovel duty. We poked around for a while before we found the sweet spot where all of the clams were hanging out. It was near the shell/rocky land, just like at Dosewallips! We ended up finding PLENTY of large horse clams but no other kind of clam. Although, I kept finding enormous mollusks - like the size of my head!
We certainly each caught our limits, and hauling the large horse clams back to the car was.... a gruesome trek. It was a good workout though, hopefully burned enough calories to make up for the chowder binge in advance!
Cleaning horse clams was... not fun. Matt was particularly bad at it, so I ended up doing almost all of our share of the haul. It must have taken well over an hour to get through all of them! And my hands and arms were tired already.
We seared some of the precious tongue meat and seasoned it with sesame oil, soy sauce, and chili paste for "dinner". We were too exhausted to do any real cooking. It was good though, almost like sashimi!
Today I made chowder with the rest of the clam meat, and oooooooh booooooy we have chowder for daaaaaays! I think I *may* have overdone it when eyeballing the measurements for this recipe...
After I packed two soup bowls for the freezer, and after we both ate dinner, we still have plenty of chowder left.
Aaaaaand a close up.
I'm pretty proud of myself for this "living off the land experience" -- dug 'em out, cleaned 'em, cooked 'em up, and now I ate 'ems!!!!
Monday, May 19, 2014
Beat the Bridge 8K & Puppy Class
This weekend was SO EVENTFUL!
On Saturday, we took Forrest to his first puppy training class... followed by puppy play time! Spin moves for hours, and the instructors said he has "the zooms" because he LOVES to run. Such a little fireball. All of the big dogs wanted to play with him, while Matt and I were petting the other fluffy puppies! I don't know who enjoyed it more, us or Forrest. =) By the time we left puppy playtime, Forrest was pooped. He was falling asleep sitting up in the car.
Early Sunday morning was the Beat the Bridge 8k! My first 8k ever, and only my second run... ever. WE BEAT THE BRIDGE!!! And now I am exhausted, still, even though I slept early last night (and the rest of the day Sunday). I should probably train before I try another 8k, huh?
On Saturday, we took Forrest to his first puppy training class... followed by puppy play time! Spin moves for hours, and the instructors said he has "the zooms" because he LOVES to run. Such a little fireball. All of the big dogs wanted to play with him, while Matt and I were petting the other fluffy puppies! I don't know who enjoyed it more, us or Forrest. =) By the time we left puppy playtime, Forrest was pooped. He was falling asleep sitting up in the car.
Early Sunday morning was the Beat the Bridge 8k! My first 8k ever, and only my second run... ever. WE BEAT THE BRIDGE!!! And now I am exhausted, still, even though I slept early last night (and the rest of the day Sunday). I should probably train before I try another 8k, huh?
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Baby Forrest
After months of throwing around the idea of having a dog, and months of trying to figure out an amazing birthday gift for Matt, I decided we should kill two birds with one stone! So I adopted Forrest, a beagle mix puppy, from a local shelter. Technically he belongs to Matt, but I'm sure we will raise him and love him together.
We picked him up on Saturday, 5/3 from Puyallup and he is just the sweetest. I actually met him the weekend before at the Seattle Pet Expo, where I submitted an application to adopt! The rescue people said it would take exactly two weeks for Forrest to warm up, but by the time we got back to Seattle he was all lovey and warmed up - tail wagging every which way.
Just after signing the adoption papers!
His first selfie :)
The first play thing in his new home!
Playing with his spam toy, which he carries like a purse
Cuddles!
At first he only barked at his reflection, and was pretty quiet through the first few days. Now that we are fully acquainted, he has started whining and barking... but I'm definitely ignoring this behavior because I don't want any bad habits forming. He was barking at the vet's office also, but only at the dogs and not at the cat he was sitting next to. What an odd puppy!
He's so sweet most of the time, and just wants to cuddle and be close to his humans. There are moments of mischief when he steals shoes or doesn't listen, but overall he's pretty well-behaved for having some beagle in him. His accidents the first few days wreaked, and even though we cleaned everything our apartment does not quite smell as fresh. I suspect it never will. He is now used to the potty pads, thank goodness! He's funny, he doesn't like to eat by himself but he doesn't like to poo or pee when someone is looking. That guy is definitely a character.
I totally came home from lunch on Wednesday, and the building had shut off the water for maintenance. Of course that's the one day that Forrest poops in his kennel. And I have no water to clean everything. I used anti-bac wipes to sanitize things as best I could before returning to work, and tried not to have an anxiety meltdown from the poo bacteria everywhere. I felt SO MUCH better when I got home and was able to clean everything, and we gave Forrest a bath for the first time. What a HUGE relief. Especially because Matt left for Boston on Wednesday night and is gone through the weekend.
So now that Matt isn't here to keep an eye on Forrest when I'm busy, it can get stressful. Yesterday, I left Forrest in the kitchen with the baby gate up and went to shower. In the shower I heard his collar jingling.. and I was thinking wow I shouldn't be able to hear that from the bathroom if he's in the kitchen. So I run out of the bathroom and find Forrest under the couch chewing one of my socks. He loosened one corner of the baby gate and jumped over. I'm so glad he didn't chew an electrical wire instead! I've since adjusted the baby gate and triple check every time I leave him in there to make sure it won't budge. Since then I keep thinking I'm going to wake up one morning and Forrest will have escaped his kennel and pooped on my pillow or something. He's seriously adorbs and totally worth it, but this is going to be a looooong week.
We picked him up on Saturday, 5/3 from Puyallup and he is just the sweetest. I actually met him the weekend before at the Seattle Pet Expo, where I submitted an application to adopt! The rescue people said it would take exactly two weeks for Forrest to warm up, but by the time we got back to Seattle he was all lovey and warmed up - tail wagging every which way.
Just after signing the adoption papers!
His first selfie :)
The first play thing in his new home!
Playing with his spam toy, which he carries like a purse
Cuddles!
At first he only barked at his reflection, and was pretty quiet through the first few days. Now that we are fully acquainted, he has started whining and barking... but I'm definitely ignoring this behavior because I don't want any bad habits forming. He was barking at the vet's office also, but only at the dogs and not at the cat he was sitting next to. What an odd puppy!
He's so sweet most of the time, and just wants to cuddle and be close to his humans. There are moments of mischief when he steals shoes or doesn't listen, but overall he's pretty well-behaved for having some beagle in him. His accidents the first few days wreaked, and even though we cleaned everything our apartment does not quite smell as fresh. I suspect it never will. He is now used to the potty pads, thank goodness! He's funny, he doesn't like to eat by himself but he doesn't like to poo or pee when someone is looking. That guy is definitely a character.
I totally came home from lunch on Wednesday, and the building had shut off the water for maintenance. Of course that's the one day that Forrest poops in his kennel. And I have no water to clean everything. I used anti-bac wipes to sanitize things as best I could before returning to work, and tried not to have an anxiety meltdown from the poo bacteria everywhere. I felt SO MUCH better when I got home and was able to clean everything, and we gave Forrest a bath for the first time. What a HUGE relief. Especially because Matt left for Boston on Wednesday night and is gone through the weekend.
So now that Matt isn't here to keep an eye on Forrest when I'm busy, it can get stressful. Yesterday, I left Forrest in the kitchen with the baby gate up and went to shower. In the shower I heard his collar jingling.. and I was thinking wow I shouldn't be able to hear that from the bathroom if he's in the kitchen. So I run out of the bathroom and find Forrest under the couch chewing one of my socks. He loosened one corner of the baby gate and jumped over. I'm so glad he didn't chew an electrical wire instead! I've since adjusted the baby gate and triple check every time I leave him in there to make sure it won't budge. Since then I keep thinking I'm going to wake up one morning and Forrest will have escaped his kennel and pooped on my pillow or something. He's seriously adorbs and totally worth it, but this is going to be a looooong week.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Coachella 2014
It's been a week since we got back from Coachella, and I'm just now feeling fully rested. Geez!
Last Thursday, Matt and I flew into Vegas after work and hung out with BJ and Mel. We walked around the shopping area and saw the new, ginormous ferris wheel. It's so big, like I cannot even fathom what just one of the spokes looks like up close. We took a picture at the ferris wheel, but we wouldn't figure out where the camera hole was.. HAHAHAHA. That made for an incredibly lopsided photo. The fried chicken at Brooklyn Bowl was suhhhhhhhh good! And we got some cupcakes from the Sprinkles ATM. Yep, ATM for cupcakes. Yep. YEP.
After we finally woke up on Friday, BJ, Matt, and I drove out to Palm Springs! Before we left, we had some Capriotti's for lunch (sandwich spot #1). The drive was long and kind of exhausting to be honest. There was an accident getting in to Palm Springs, adding an extra 30-45 minutes. That's insult to injury! We got ready, pooped, and then hit the road again to get to Indio!
We heard Ellie Goulding from the parking lot (damn you, accident delay) and got in just before Chromeo hit the main stage. Chromeo was pretty cool, he has a really relaxing music style. We explored the area around the main stage but it was already getting dark, so it was difficult to acquaint ourselves with the layout. At the Sahara tent, we saw Martin Garrix and Zedd! Zedd is always freaking good. Outkast was great, except there were a million people at that stage. BJ and I couldn't really see anything... #shortpeopleproblems. They came out with Bombs Over Bagdad though... best idea ever. Getting out of the parking lot was horrendous, we fell asleep in the car because we were blocked in for so long. I think 1 car left the lot every 20 minutes or so, and then everyone else crept forward half of a car length. UGH. Took us two hours to get out because everyone was trying to get out of the same exit and no one was using the exit on the other side of the lot. And the people who knew about the unused exit (us) couldn't get there because we were blocked in. MY GOODNESS!
On Saturday, we got lunch at Firehouse Subs (sandwich spot #2) and we were all like, why don't they have locations in Seattle? It was really good. I got a corned beef brisket.. uh, YUM! We also bought mangos and oranges from a Mexican guy at the parking lot.. apparently BJ does it all of the tine - this was a first for myself and Matt. The mangos were MUY BUENO, though! I think I'll start buying from those guys too. We also picked up coolers and ice for our waters, and the handle of fireball - the essentials. And thank goodness we each got a handkerchief because boy was it dusty! We snagged some hats from Firehouse Subs, but no one wanted to wear them with me. :(
We got in to the festival around 4, and it was nice and hot. Because we were further into the parking lot with the earlier folks, we had to walk way further than the previous night. It wasn't so bad though. We had the most amazing fish tacos when we got in, and explored the grounds more. We caught some Capital Cities, checked out the Absolut bar for a while, and listened to Lorde from afar. We also got Coachella tees and hoodies! The margarita line was miserable, and we were limited to 2 drinks per person.. but we waited freaking 45 minutes for one round. Oy vey! The day was dusty from the beginning, but after sundown the wind picked up even more and it was getting disgusting. Garbage tumbleweeds EVERYWHERE and so much sand in our faces. We ended up ducking into the tent that Solange was performing in, just to get some relief from the sand storm. To our surprise, BEYONCE CAME OUT!!!!! She did a little dancing and looked amazing, of course. What a nice surprise! As she came out, the spaced-out crowd immediately moved forward, up against the stage. Poor Solange... people weren't even paying attention before Beyoncé showed up. We moved to the next tent, and were really trying to stick around for Pharrell and Nas. But after two hours of being sober in the sun, and four hours of relentless sand wind, we got to a point where none of us was enjoying our night. We left shortly after 10 PM and got food at In N Out, and none of us was sad to leave. There was a small exodus that we joined, and it made me feel less defeated about missing Pharrell and Nas.
On Sunday, we checked out of our Best Western (it was actually pretty nice) and grabbed lunch at The Sandwich Spot (sandwich spot #3). Those sandwiches were good too! I got the Copacabana. Mmmm. We headed back to Vegas, another grueling road trip. We didn't stop this time because we were just so anxious to get it over with. When we got back to Mel's place, we got dinner at Capriotti's again. HAHAHAHA. That's sandwich spot #4. We came full circle. :)
In retrospect... Outkast, the sunshine, and Palm Springs were great. The company we had made it really fun too! If we go back, we need to be better prepared with goggles and such. And I think I might need to get VIP tickets. I'm not sure if I'd do Coachella again.. I think I much prefer UMF for the same price. But it sure was an adventure and an experience that I will appreciate forever. Coachella, Coachella.
Last Thursday, Matt and I flew into Vegas after work and hung out with BJ and Mel. We walked around the shopping area and saw the new, ginormous ferris wheel. It's so big, like I cannot even fathom what just one of the spokes looks like up close. We took a picture at the ferris wheel, but we wouldn't figure out where the camera hole was.. HAHAHAHA. That made for an incredibly lopsided photo. The fried chicken at Brooklyn Bowl was suhhhhhhhh good! And we got some cupcakes from the Sprinkles ATM. Yep, ATM for cupcakes. Yep. YEP.
After we finally woke up on Friday, BJ, Matt, and I drove out to Palm Springs! Before we left, we had some Capriotti's for lunch (sandwich spot #1). The drive was long and kind of exhausting to be honest. There was an accident getting in to Palm Springs, adding an extra 30-45 minutes. That's insult to injury! We got ready, pooped, and then hit the road again to get to Indio!
We heard Ellie Goulding from the parking lot (damn you, accident delay) and got in just before Chromeo hit the main stage. Chromeo was pretty cool, he has a really relaxing music style. We explored the area around the main stage but it was already getting dark, so it was difficult to acquaint ourselves with the layout. At the Sahara tent, we saw Martin Garrix and Zedd! Zedd is always freaking good. Outkast was great, except there were a million people at that stage. BJ and I couldn't really see anything... #shortpeopleproblems. They came out with Bombs Over Bagdad though... best idea ever. Getting out of the parking lot was horrendous, we fell asleep in the car because we were blocked in for so long. I think 1 car left the lot every 20 minutes or so, and then everyone else crept forward half of a car length. UGH. Took us two hours to get out because everyone was trying to get out of the same exit and no one was using the exit on the other side of the lot. And the people who knew about the unused exit (us) couldn't get there because we were blocked in. MY GOODNESS!
On Saturday, we got lunch at Firehouse Subs (sandwich spot #2) and we were all like, why don't they have locations in Seattle? It was really good. I got a corned beef brisket.. uh, YUM! We also bought mangos and oranges from a Mexican guy at the parking lot.. apparently BJ does it all of the tine - this was a first for myself and Matt. The mangos were MUY BUENO, though! I think I'll start buying from those guys too. We also picked up coolers and ice for our waters, and the handle of fireball - the essentials. And thank goodness we each got a handkerchief because boy was it dusty! We snagged some hats from Firehouse Subs, but no one wanted to wear them with me. :(
We got in to the festival around 4, and it was nice and hot. Because we were further into the parking lot with the earlier folks, we had to walk way further than the previous night. It wasn't so bad though. We had the most amazing fish tacos when we got in, and explored the grounds more. We caught some Capital Cities, checked out the Absolut bar for a while, and listened to Lorde from afar. We also got Coachella tees and hoodies! The margarita line was miserable, and we were limited to 2 drinks per person.. but we waited freaking 45 minutes for one round. Oy vey! The day was dusty from the beginning, but after sundown the wind picked up even more and it was getting disgusting. Garbage tumbleweeds EVERYWHERE and so much sand in our faces. We ended up ducking into the tent that Solange was performing in, just to get some relief from the sand storm. To our surprise, BEYONCE CAME OUT!!!!! She did a little dancing and looked amazing, of course. What a nice surprise! As she came out, the spaced-out crowd immediately moved forward, up against the stage. Poor Solange... people weren't even paying attention before Beyoncé showed up. We moved to the next tent, and were really trying to stick around for Pharrell and Nas. But after two hours of being sober in the sun, and four hours of relentless sand wind, we got to a point where none of us was enjoying our night. We left shortly after 10 PM and got food at In N Out, and none of us was sad to leave. There was a small exodus that we joined, and it made me feel less defeated about missing Pharrell and Nas.
On Sunday, we checked out of our Best Western (it was actually pretty nice) and grabbed lunch at The Sandwich Spot (sandwich spot #3). Those sandwiches were good too! I got the Copacabana. Mmmm. We headed back to Vegas, another grueling road trip. We didn't stop this time because we were just so anxious to get it over with. When we got back to Mel's place, we got dinner at Capriotti's again. HAHAHAHA. That's sandwich spot #4. We came full circle. :)
In retrospect... Outkast, the sunshine, and Palm Springs were great. The company we had made it really fun too! If we go back, we need to be better prepared with goggles and such. And I think I might need to get VIP tickets. I'm not sure if I'd do Coachella again.. I think I much prefer UMF for the same price. But it sure was an adventure and an experience that I will appreciate forever. Coachella, Coachella.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Water results
Over the past two months, I've been doing a pretty good job of saving water! Unfortunately, there were a few occasions where I found a faucet (or the shower) dripping... I feel like those slip-ups weren't my fault but I can't say for sure. There was also a day when the gasket around the kitchen sink was leaking. I found it at lunch time, and no one had used the sink since before dinner.. the previous day. So who knows how much water was wasted.
But alas, I have RESULTS!!!
Previously, we had used 2,680 gallons. This most recent billing period, only used 1,850 gallons! I saved 830 gallons (which is more than my goal), and if Matt took shorter showers we could be saving so much more. From $61 to $43 sounds like a good deal to me. I think this is great motivation to continue conserving water.
But alas, I have RESULTS!!!
Previously, we had used 2,680 gallons. This most recent billing period, only used 1,850 gallons! I saved 830 gallons (which is more than my goal), and if Matt took shorter showers we could be saving so much more. From $61 to $43 sounds like a good deal to me. I think this is great motivation to continue conserving water.
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