Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Labor for Mother's Day


Update 5/4 - 5/10

Zach: My Man Godfrey it's my favorite 1920 Great Depression movie.
Lucas: That is a very specific category.

This is how Percy wakes me up, right before he kisses my nose. 



I was chatting with my college roommate Julie and then the following day I happened to come across this article about things you still miss about your roommates.  I really do miss those late night walks around campus -- likely with the rape whistle Erika made me carry while she stayed in to chat with Kenny. 


I was so excited to see these flowers arrive from Kevin for (god)mothers day! Now, if I can just keep it alive long enough to plant it in my new place (where ever that ends up being.) No pressure of course, but it would be pretty awesome to look out and see a reminder of Kevin every day. 



I came home saw that Lucas and Arda were looking for something to do to entertain their friend, so I pulled out the lite brites along with the etch-a-sketch.  I'm must really have Halo on the brain because without even thinking about it, I sketched-a-sanghelii, kinda.



Kelly and I went to the park with her parents and then went house hunting with Jason all day on Saturday only to find out later that apparently it was his birthday and I felt awful about not knowing. Kelly stopped to get her can and then came over to jump into the pool.  I think it was the first time that she saw Percy with his lobster pool toy.  For seriously an hour straight he did laps until we decided to get out and I had to tell him he had to stop. 

Mother's Day we "gifted" Dawne with a day of manual labor packing up the yellow house.  While we waited for everyone to get up, Zach and I ran out and got coffee and croissants and then played some Splendor with my fancy new chips and play mat that Zach got me at a convention.  Yes, I was super excited about this gift because yes, I am a nerd. 



My job was to clear out the kitchen.  Even with the least emotional room, I still was kinda sad about saying farewell to the house that had such lovely memories.  I gave Lucas the job of emptying out the alcohol.



I saw this exchange that I thought you might enjoy:
Jared worked from home today so, Becky got to hear his end-of-day-exchange with himself: "Well, it's 5PM.  This is a problem for Future Jared.  And we know what Future Jared says, "Past Jared is a jerk." And Past Jared is all like, "Future Jared is a chump and keeps doing all my work for me!"


More to come!


Tastes Like MSG



Update 4/27 - 5/3

Kristy Bee inquired about my where about because apparently I don't usually drop off the radar for over a month.  This is true, mostly.  More often than not this happens when my life is awesome and I'm too busy being fabulous to stop for a moment and write all the hilarious hi-jinx down.   Unfortunately, I don't have anything boast about this go around.  I've become that girl who works all the time.  This truth is both lame and shouldn't take long for you to read about. :)

The art director at work got a new puppy, and brought it so I could cuddle with him.  Meet Jasper - he's French.




  


And my pups, Percy and Casper, chilling in the back yard keeping watch over the ducks to make sure they don't get too comfy.




I am constantly checking that Timehop app just see what happened, and I saw this gem from our bouncy house party circa 2009.  Don't we look like we're having a blast!




Lucas and I woke up after our road trip, and we were both singing "closing time" because of the Pandora station of the weekend.  I ended up at work with it still stuck in my head so I decided to try out this snap thing. 




Lucas and I have been watching some Parks and Recreation lately.  I just can't get enough.  We were engaging in just such an activity when Lucas got a call from Arda.  As he was hanging up, I heard, "I love you. You're a good guy."  I was telling him during our road trip that one of my favorite memories was our daily ritual of listening to the Gilmore Girls sound track on our way to school.  (Lucas said that's how he learned that you could use ritual without having a religious connotation.)  I would drop him off at school and he would take a couple of minutes to gather all of his many bags, lunch boxes, and instruments all the while saying, "Thank you! I Love you! Bye! Love you! Thanks!"  That's when Luke said, "Yeah, I guess not a whole lot has changed."  We did have a car that was mainly filled with an amp, records and a guitar. 

Lucas was cooking up a meal for himself.
Luke: And now for the MSG.
Me: heh what?
Luke: The MSG. I bought some, and it is delicious - here taste it.
Me: I'll take your word for it. 

Lucas said he had a bandmate in high school who always had pretty awesome music supplies.  She would say, of yeah, "I borrowed that from my neighbor." Luke would discover later that her neighbor was Dave Matthews.  Do you guys remember when Wade and I got tickets to a Microsoft reception?  Basically, there was an all-day meeting and Micosoft rented out concert hall afterwards for drinks.  They set up tables to mingle and chat, and that's when Dave Matthews came on stage and performed.  No one but us paid attention, but he was un-phased as if he was a wedding singer.  Weirdest concert, ever. 

Dawne was out town for two weeks, and the day that she left (I mean not even 12 hours had gone by) I noted that the pink fish was lying on the floor of the tank.  The next day, I fed them, and I couldn't find the pink fish at all, so I texted Dawne the news.  Turns out, the pink fish really was just hiding.  I didn't tell Dawne though because I didn't believe it would make it the week and I certainly didn't want to deliver bad news twice. 

Speaking of which, the first week, Zach took care of Casper.  Dawne left him with pre-measured and prepared containers of food for each meal saying, "Feed Casper. Seriously, I'm okay with my fish dying but you have to feed Casper."  Fair enough.  

Tristan has this motorcycle, and it was a little rusted.  When I was hanging out at Zach's he told me that he took a chance and tried cleaning the rust with a can of coke.  Guess what? It totally worked.  And guess what? Tristan turned around and ordered a coke the next day.  I guess if it got rid of all that rust think of what it could do when you drink it!...?

Deep in the trenches, I got a fun pic of Amelia to cheer me up. 




Finally I took this one of Percy to demonstrate his constant need to have a place to rest his head properly.





More to come...


Saturday, May 2, 2015

Social Security



Update 4/20 - 4/26

On Monday, it rained while I was watching TV and when I looked outside I saw a beautiful rainbow.  Alas, I was too lazy to get up and take a good shot of the rainbow with the lake and mountains, so I just took this for you.




I celebrated Earth Day by driving 3 blocks to Homegrown with Ryan for lunch.  J





Tuesday evening, I was hanging out, watching the Gilmore Girls for the umpteenth time, not writing my Monday email, when Kelly texted me to meet her at Trader Joes & QFC for some late night shopping.   So, I put some pants on and shoved Percy in a bag and drove over to Redmond.  Very early in our relationship, Kelly found out that I didn't like tomatoes.  She was highly offended and told me that her grandma called them "Gifts from God's Garden" and then threatened to end the friendship right then and there.  I'm not entirely sure what changed her mind, but here we are.  I mention this, because she put tomatoes into the shared cart and looked at me as if I might be repulsed by the fruit-that-disguises-itself-as-a-vegetable was so close to my bananas.  I wasn't, of course.  As long as they aren't too close to my mouth, raw tomatoes and I can get along just fine.  On our way out, I was chatting up the chick who was checking us out.  I mentioned that I wanted go to a blow dry bar, and from there, all of a sudden, Kelly was my "High Maintenance Friend" (which I found hilarious because of how far from the truth it is.)  But then, Kelly brought up our "friends" that we made while waiting for Dollar-Rent-a-Car, and I started wondering if I talk to strangers too much.  Nah. 

On Wednesday, Percy got his summer cut.  He had some matting so Tess had to cut way more than I would have liked, and he ended up looking, well, naked.  I felt really bad for the skinny, furless pup.  I even dropped him off at daycare with a, "will you still love him, even though he's ugly now?" She said she would, so I guess I should also.  (I'm just kidding, people.  I still love him, and I totally know that in time I'll love him more b/c it will grow back. :P)




I'm going to skip right to Friday when I started a road trip by flying down to LAX.  Mucas Lucas picked Percy and I up and we headed to the Four Points Sheraton.  Lucas: I told my dad we were staying at the Four Seasons.  This makes more sense.

We got to the room and then listened to Arda's band perform via a web radio.  For a while though, we were just listening to people chat, which felt very creeper like because it also felt like we might be the only ones listening in from afar.  Percy was not used to all of the in and out of our guests and I felt like I was up hourly to let him know that it was okay that we were surrounded my awake strangers so close to us.  

Luke's care was packed with all of his worldly possessions, like his guitar which Percy proceeded to play.  I guess he got a little bored in the back.  We drove from LA to Pleasanton (outside of San Fran) to see Erika and Kenny.  Even at 7 am in LA on a Saturday, we managed to run into traffic. 



Me: Let's find an SBUX
Lucas: $Bucks.  That's a perfect nickname.

After filling tires, gas tank, and the car with snacks and caffeine, our next order of business was to take the "Do you know what boats are?" survey which I was laughing so hard I'm surprised I was able to still drive safely.  Please oh, please, check it out:


I got "You kind of know what boats are." Meaning I could kind of get through a conversation about boats, and if I ever saw one I would probably say, "Yes, that's boats" but then I'd have to look up more info to finish the conversation.  Later, I would see a boat on a trailer.

Me: Lucas, what is that?
Lucas: Oh that? That's Boats!

And at Erika's, after using the boys bathroom with frogs in an aquarium.
Me: Lucas, could you go into the bathroom and let me know if that's boats?
Lucas (returning): Yeah.  That's boats.



As soon as we got to Erika’s I requested a walk so that Percy (and frankly I) could stretch my legs a bit.  Xavi found a snail while we were walking and both he and Toby were telling Lucas about the snail’s 4 eyes.  Lucas kept trying, every so politely, to explain that he didn’t think that they were all eyes, but the boys were not overly receptive to this.   When we returned, we discussed a plan of action that included getting some burritos and going to a record store.    The first part of the plan was to take the BART. 

Me: I love how easy it was for us to plan this.
Erika: Yeah, Kenny did all the work.
Me: And I just let us take the credit!

Lucas: Look at how colorful that is.  Doesn't that look fun?



We got to the burrito place (pretty sure the best burrito I’ve ever had btw), and Lucas and I both ordered a strawberry drink, only he got Ice and I didn’t.

Lucas: I could let you use some of my ice after it melts a bit.
Me: No one has ever offered to share their ice with me.  That is so sweet of you, Lucas.

Passing by the Social Security building
Lucas: Oh! Now that’s something I’d love to have.  Do they sell it there or how does it work?
Me: Yes, it’s a great group. I’m a card carrying member in fact.
Lucas: Really? Has it helped you to be more socially secure? 
Me: Most definitely, even in the most stressful of conditions.  Erika, we’re making psych jokes back here, why aren’t you jumping in, I’d think this would be right up your alley.
Erika: I can’t joke about that, it’s too close to home. 

Then Lucas went to the record store and Erika took me to a place that had a lot of stuffed dead things, bones, eye balls cut in half (and if they are indeed the gateway to the soul, that makes me very uncomfortable) and a couple of hearts and brains.  Toby was super excited and wanted to show me EVERYTHING.  What fun!    Then we went to the park. 




Toby: I'm collecting a beer bottle caps!
Erika: Oh, no please don't.

Then we climbed this really big hill.  



Me: Thanks for waiting for us [at the cross walk]. You could have made it.
Erika: Well, we would only have made it half way before it changed.
Me: That’s making it in my book. 
Lucas: Hold on a second, let me check my book.  F, G, H… Half.  Yes, it’s right there.  Half is making it. 

Lucky for us, Facebook told me that Janette was nearby so we went to go see Janette, Neville & 13 day old Azalea – with a bonus encounter of Janette’s parents!  We didn’t stay long, and I made sure they knew that Lucas and I were both vaccinated.  I also probably said and asked a bunch of non-parent things, but you know, with only sleeping 4 hours at a clip, maybe they won’t remember how dumb I sounded. J



On our way back, we stopped to get some tea for Erika and the store clerk was drinking some beverage with 3x as much caffeine (natural tea caffeine) that Lucas got really excited about so we walked to Whole Foods to pick a bunch of it up for the road.  On our way we saw this “Nomad Rugs” that at first glance looked a little more like a drug store. 




We also saw a very sad and desperate message graffiti’d on the sidewalk over and over.   Lucas asked me what I would write everywhere. 

Me: “Be Better”
Lucas: and then I’d change it to “Never Be Better than Who You Are.”
Me: And I’d cross out “Never” and write “You Can’t.”

We took the Bart home, well to a certain extent.  Then we had to get out and take a bus, and I didn’t want to, so we took Uber back.  The guy who picked us up said that when he saw all the people he thought it was another riot (because apparently some bad stuff had gone down in that area before.)  Proud of our decision to get a car, we then proceeded to chat with this guy about prisons and listened to him call his sister and mother about where his nieces wedding was in Seattle, all while holding an iPhone for directions.  At least we got there safe, right?  That evening, after being cooped up in a car or a bag for most of the day, Percy was wild and crazy and I seriously didn’t know how to make him behave.  Kenny thought he was cute and told Erika they should get a dog, to which she said emphatically, No.  Erika also made me some delicious popcorn that totally tasted like stove top popcorn even though she had used her own paper bag in the microwave. 

Kenny: This is pretty good for microwave popcorn.
Erika: for microwave popcorn?
Me: I think it’s just great popcorn, Erika. 

The next morning, every time Percy barked, Daphne sweetly said, “ruff.”   Erika got up early to get coffee and donuts. 

Erika: What kind of donuts do you like?
Lucas: Jelly.
Erika: Jelly? Really? I didn’t know people like those.

Meanwhile, the place she got them from? Called “Jelly Donuts.”   There were delicious, so was the coffee, and before I wanted to, we were on the road listening to “Closing Time” Pandora radio station.  And little bit of Frankie Valli, Queen, and Waylon Jennings and really everything in between.  Of the 18 + hour road trip, Lucas only drove for 2.5 hours.  After the first hour, he said, “High five! I drove an hour.”  Then, “High Five! I drove two hours!” and then, “Um, can we switch now?”  I managed to take a couple of pictures of Percy road tripping during this time.




We planned it so that we hit up the last In and Out, in Redding, before leaving the state.  I ordered differently this time, and it was way better than the first time. 





Then, we saw the “Welcome to Oregon” sign which was missing, “Take Off Your Sunglasses.” 




At one point, “Hallelujah” came on with, “The Fourth the Fifth the Major Lift.” Lucas: Best lyrics ever.  Just write the chords.  You gone have to write the words!

Lucas: Asia is 24 hours ahead, no wonder they are so advanced!
Always doing things before us.  I mean they have always been a day ahead; that has to add up.
Me: Yes, to one day.

I also started snap chatting this weekend, of course Lucas needed to teach me the ropes, and I still don’t understand why it’s fun, but I’ll get it I’m sure. 



While we were road tripping, Patrick received his Ad Altare Dei from Cardinal Dolan at St. Patrick’s Cathedral – so proud!





Raising a PNW Boy


Update 4/13 - 4/19

This was a pretty big week for my friends.  Janette's baby Azalea arrived on Sunday 4/12 and Christy's baby Amelia arrived on April 14th.  I can't think of any better way to kick off this update than with adorable baby pics.

Amelia




And Azalea




Ryan and I discovered an injured duck at lunch.  The first day we gave him half our lunches, and then left a stash of additional food for later.  The next day, we tried to find him again and got a little sad when we didn't see him.  That was under we saw him swimming.  We once again over fed him.  After the weekend, we worried very seriously that something had happened because he was gone.  Tuesday, I grabbed lunch with Tony at Deru followed by a stroll by the lake.  That's when I saw a huge pack of ducks and there he was, our lame duck.  Not so lame any more though, b/c he was totally able to fly. 

Tony: I had a couple of gay ducks that used to hang out by my house.  Seriously, they were two boy ducks that were inseparable.  At first I was like, "that is so cool that there are gay ducks!" and then I was like, "Ugh, I can't believe even gay ducks can find mates and I'm still single!"




Dawne & Jordan are traveling again.  I hung out with Casper for the first weekend because Zach was going to a convention down in Portland, and then Zach was going to hang out with him for a week.  Dawne packed individual containers of food for each day because Zach said he was only going to give him dry food because it was easier.   Dawne felt compelled to tell Zach how important it was that he feed her dog.  That it was one thing to kill her fish because of lack of food, but quite another to starve her dog to death.  Zach didn't think this was very fair, but appreciated the containers of food. 

On Friday, I came over to Zach's and we went for a nice walk with the pups, picked up some teriyaki and then watched the Hobbit.  We were going to catch me up on Game of Thrones, but since the recent move, Comcast wasn't working properly.  Now, if that had happened to me, I would have waited two weeks before calling to fix it (b/c I would have waited until it was during work hours and then work would have happened and I would have completely forgotten... okay maybe it would have taken more than two weeks.)  Tristan came home and immediately got on the phone.  He had it on speaker, and do you know for the hour that he was on the phone, he was ridiculously pleasant.  I mean, super sweet and funny, and not at all frustrated.  Even when they said that they couldn't fix it and would have to call him back the next day, he gave the lady his number and said, "Put it on speed dial!"  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  A-MAZE-ING!

Super disappointed that I have no idea what this note is about, "Hunting candy, Bambi" Especially because I don't know if Tristan said it or if it was said at the baby shower.  Doh.

Saturday I did a lot of errands that I just didn't get done the weekend before because was sick.  Kelly and I decided to meet for a walk, only I decided I had time to make Mac and Cheese and bake a cake before I met her, which I didn't, so she had to come to the house and wait for the cake to finish cooking.  Then we went to the park, followed by her coming back to the house to watch me fail miserably at making a cake.  It should be noted that I used 4 boxes of brownie mix (I thought it would be a good base) and 8 boxes of cake mix (the first batch was a failure because I forgot eggs.) Because I was in a rush to go to the park, I didn't really let the cake cook all the way, combine that with the fact that the brownie was WAY too heavy for a layer cake and the fact that it didn't really come out of the tin well because I didn't bother to grease the pan, well... we were not off to a good start.  I told Kelly not to worry because I would just cover it all with icing. 

Kelly: Didn't you try to do that with that cake competition?
Me: Um, yeah, but that was different because we also using cool whip and pudding. And I covered that with a garbage bag which is not an option here.

[This is from the Iron Chef Party, which I think was 2004 or 2005]



Kelly: Okay.  Isn't the cake important at these things? I mean people take pictures.
Me: It'll be great! (Putting on the 4th tub of icing).
Kelly: You know you could just bring it work and ppl will eat it there. 

Turns out, I was too embarrassed to bring it to work.  Instead, I thought I could salvage it by taking the second layer off.  Unclear why I did it with my hands, though.  Found out through this process how under cooked it all was and blamed the lack of structural integrity on that.  That's when I texted a picture to Laina and she offered to buy the cake which saved me the soul crushing task of buying a cake that I could have picked up hours and 12 boxes of mix ago. 







The next day was Dr. Rach's baby shower.  I co-hosted with her friend Lauren.  I had really wanted to make it a "How to raise a boy in the Pacific Northwest" theme.  Lauren really wanted a "Grey and White" theme.  Lauren won because I was trying to be on my best behavior.  I couldn't resist getting a few helpful books and including a suggestion box for PNW parents.  I also got them a flannel shirt and skinny jeans, socks with sandals, moustache pacifier (the third that they received), hiking shorts and a onesie that said, "I'm told that I like hiking."  Here are the books and the fancy store bought cakes from Laina and Mo:



It was a gorgeous day so we opened presents outside.  Shana's gift predicted that their child would be a "Lottery Winner."  That's legit, lots of doctors win the lottery. 




Jin (to her complaining child): Can you just figure it out yourself?

Laina: The card says, "ConCATulations."
Rach: Cat Pun.  Great.

We decorated blocks, trying to get through the alphabet.
Shana: I like that you and I both wrote our names as things that begin with our letters.
Me: So did Laina!  This must be why we're friends. 
(Mine also had a self-portrait even though Mo didn't think the portrayal was accurate what with my black arms and red hair. A girl can dream can't she?)



I think I might have mentioned earlier that it was suggested that they name their child Abcde (even if it is clearly a girl's name), so I decided to make them a onesie with his name on it. 





B is for Botox



Update 4/7 - 4/12

I arrived back to Washington just in time for my birthday.  My co-workers had left presents and balloons at my desk, and in return, I made them take me to the Pancake House for lunch (with special appearance by Becky!)  Other than all the work I had to do all day (why again is your birthday not a legitimate reason to take a holiday again?) it was a pretty lovely day.  That evening, I threw myself a little shin dig at Flat Stick Pub with the perfect combination of friends, fam, beer, mini golf, pizza, cake and my puppy too. Not too shabby for a celebration, if you ask me, even if Ryan did mock me mercilessly for throwing myself a party. He thought it was particularly pathetic that I bought myself a cake (the princess torte obvi).  I thought that was pretty normal, and I don't really want to think too hard about in case it really isn't.  Lord knows Percy isn't going to throw one for me. 






Zach is plotting another event.  In involves 4K bouncy balls, so you can look forward that in future updates.  During the discussion of said event:
Tristan: I'm invited?
Zach: Part of being my roommate means you have to go to things. By the way, my mom's birthday is tomorrow.
Tristan: Really?
Zach: Yes, and we're going to dinner at Norm's.
Me: See you there, Tristan!




Kelly printed and framed some awesome pictures for me.  There were some additional photos that she printed that I can only image that they are for when I get tired of the framed images and want to swap them out.  How thoughtful!  One was of all of us being sprayed by elephants.

Me: And this was the best day ever, and that there is Zach really enjoying standing in elephant feces.  




The following day we celebrated Dawne and Raymond's birthday, with special guests Drew and Bre, my Florida cousins.  This is Percy waiting for their arrival. Michelle, Stacey's sister, after seeing so many pictures of Percy at bars and other events has decided that she wants to be reincarnated as my dog in her next life.  Me too, Michelle, me too.




Raymond was "kind" enough to buy me a book called "B is for Botox" a midlife crisis handbook.  Adorable.  Apparently I'm going to die in my 60's then?  He asked that I not throw it at him after opening.  Of course I didn't.  I'm keeping it so I can give it to him on his next birthday because by then he'll forget that he gave it to me.  :P

Here is Bailey, looking gorgeous with her formal date.  This reminds me of when I got the pictures back from my Junior Prom and I asked my dad if he wanted to see them and his response was, "No. I was there, I saw it then."  Not a fan of the photography profession, clearly. 





The rest of the week I was sick which is awful.  I slept through most of it, including another opportunity to hang out with the Florida cousins again, which I was super bummed about.  Dawne told me it wouldn't be nice to rally just enough to give them the flu so I went back to bed.  The only other time I awoke from my sick was to get some lunch at crossroads.  When we got there, Zach & Jordan were still demoing games.  That's when Dawne suggested that we check out the threading place.  This is when I flat out cried.  So much so that I couldn't see anything in the mirror when she showed me my newly sculpted eyebrow.  When she tried to do the second one, I tried to tell her, "You know what, I'm okay being uneven." She just laughed and continued to cause me pain.  After that delightful experience, she asked if I wanted a membership.  Maybe it was because I was sick, or because I hate pain, but after eating half my lunch I went back home to hibernate for another 40 hours.  (And yes, my eyebrows do look amazing.)

Pretty sure this isn’t Frita’s car… but it’s definitely what his new license plate should be:



I know this is a little on the short side but on the upside, I think the next two updates will be really short just so I can maybe possibly get up-to-date all in one day.  Fingers crossed!