Brine Shots

 

My cousins returned from their jaunt into central Washington on Thursday.  We fired up the Solo Stove for some S’mores, shared some stories and prepared for a big slumber party.  I was glad I had someone clean my place before their arrival – not because you could tell after 5 minutes of their arrival, but because two of them had to sleep on an air mattress on the floor and I felt really good that it had been mopped earlier that day. 

 

On Friday, Erin made us all eggs and bacon, and I pulled out the honey and butter and warmed up some croissants.  I thought that maybe I had added honey to the croissant without realizing it, but actually, Erin had used the dunkin’ donuts creamer with sugar in it for the eggs, and honestly, I kinda loved it.  10 out of 10, would eat again.  Then they all went exploring Seattle, including an Argosy cruise, while I worked and then I brought them over to my favorite HH place: Anderson School.  When we returned, I offered some additional ways to entertain them, but we ended up just chatting and facetiming my mom and my sister which was plenty of entertainment.  We also asked Frita about some of the crazy-sounding dishes that they were talking about.  He kind of remembered one of them, so Erin asked what his mom called it.  He quickly replied, “Supper.”

 

After about 5 hours of sleep, it was time to drive Erin and Jennifer to the airport.  A couple of hours later, Marissa and I met up with my WA cousins at Stocker Farms for the Sunflower Festival and my first of many Fall activities.  So many activities for adults and kids.  Wall puzzles, bouncy areas, historic communication area, a cavity cannon (AKA candy Cannon), Tricycles, Rubber duck races, Ziplines, and an area to pick your own flowers.  My bouquet was amazing, but was also filled with bugs, and even though I believe lady bugs are very lucky, I think they are luckier when they are outside, so that’s where my flowers will remain. 

 

 

 

I was a pro at the puzzles, and Dawne was very amused at how very proud I was of myself when I made a mr-pumpkin-head.  Apparently, I had the same look that Dawne had taking pictures of her little Tire-neer on Tire Mountain.  I believe the expression is best described as “Look what I made!”

 

 

 

Interactive Historical Landmark Exhibit!

 

 

After the sunflower festival, we came back and hung out for a bit.  I tried my best to stay awake for the Lantern Festival in Greenlake, but totally failed.  But I did discover this Tension Tamer tea that has a secret ingredient… Catnip?

 

 

 

The weather was bordering on raining, and was def cold, but the pool was delightful.  The following day we all met for breakfast at Sabine’s before walking the Ballard Farmers Market. I’m sorry that the FL cousins had already left because they had free shots of Brine! After the market, we took the opportunity to go swimming one last time.  And then I introduced Dawne to Snapchat, so that took up the rest of the night!

 

 

Hope your September has been amazing!

Love you, Mean it.

Tiffany

ThursYAY!

 

Hi Friend!

 

I’m going to tell you a secret.  I love waking up to a cloudy day. Dark and cool, maybe a little sprinkle of rain? Not every day, but after months of blazing sun, to find out that I can cozy up with a blanket and a book, without any guilt that I should be outside making the best of the weather?  Glorious. 

 

Nate’s pup Archer is a big fan of catching flies.  He’s pretty good at it, too.  On September 15^th, he was going for a fly and swatted one of the Lego Disney castle towers and lo and behold, we found the last Easter Egg!

 

Last week, Jackie told me about BOGO September ThursYays at Starbucks, and I mentioned it to a co-worker and then all of a sudden half the office (okay so 4 of us) were headed out for coffee.  And let me tell you, the coffee was fantastic, but getting to join an impromptu social work outing was one of the highlights of my week.  #howdoifastforwardtowhenweareallBFFs?

 

Had a fun weekend with my cousins (Erin, Jen, Kim & Pat) visiting!  I started the trip by sending a lengthy google doc of possible activities, because best fun is planned fun! I’m mostly kidding about that, but we did get in a trip to the Space Needle, said “hi!” to the Fremont troll, hit up Pike’s Place Market and then I took them to Capital Hill to the Unicorn where we saw a drag show.  Mimosas Caberet: Willy Wonka and the Horror Show (which required very little in the way of adjusting the script to turn it into a “Horror Show.”)  Best quote from the afternoon was definitely from Erin who exclaimed, “That’s a man!? WOW!”

 

We were sitting around chatting one night when the subject of Math came up, and Jen, intending to deliver a complement, called Maureen an Idiot Savant. 

 

Me: Um, She’s a savant maybe, but I wouldn’t call her an idiot savant.

Jen: No, it’s a good thing!

 

That’s when I explained what an idiot savant was, and that’s also when Jen realized why people gave her weird looks when she has called them idiot savants her whole life and then tried to convince them that it was a good thing! Really!

 

We called Maureen to tell her the story and then filled her in on our other adventures, and then Erin tried to convince us that there was a food called Gooba Gabba and that we were the weird ones for never hearing of it. 

 Last night, I headed over to Zach’s friend Tristan’s house.  Zach told Dawne to call me because I would be more likely to say yes.  But the truth is, Dawne happened to call me before I had completely decompressed into couch and pajamas – but just barely – because even if it’s only a 3 minute drive, peeling yourself out of a cocoon of blankets and puppy and putting real pants on can be unsurmountable.  Thus, the timing aligned, and I headed over to play some games.  As soon as I walked in, Tristan’s 2-year-old looked at me and asked, “Puppy?” The truth is, I’m not sure she even knows my name, she just knows I’m the girl with the tiny dog and by how many times she said “Puppy?” to me, I’m fairly certain I’m pretty worthless without him. 

Let’s see, two years ago this week I took my first solo vacay up to Fairbanks, Alaska for the weekend.  This trip had two purposes, the first was to check off my 49^th state and the second was to see the northern lights.  I also drove around looking for Moose, and then when I got back to the B&B I was staying at, they were totally just hanging out in the back yard.  Naturally, I knocked on the door of the strangers next door and was like, “MOOSE!” and they, surprisingly, appreciated my random knock!  I tried for two nights in a row to see the lights and had to leave at 2am to catch my flight out, sad that I hadn’t seen them. BUT THEN, I got on the plane and the whole sky was lit up with the Northern Lights and it was absolutely spectacular.  Now, I just need someone to go to Alabama with me and I’ll have experienced all 50 states!

 My iphone couldn't fully capture the glory, but you know here's some "proof": 

I think that’s all that’s fit to print, as they say. 

 

Tiffany

Do Your Best and Forget The Rest

 

 

Hi Friend!

 

I jumped in the lake! And convinced most of the boat to jump with me.  I also went to great lengths to try to find the right color leather upholstery patching to fix the boat, and then through some miscommunication and a real “whatevs” attitude from Dawne, part of the boat looks amazing and the main, most seeable patch work looks like I used black duct tape.  I’m still learning that its okay that not everything has to be done exactly how I want it to be done. 

 

I also went to see Kane Brown at the Puyallup Fair Labor Day weekend with Marissa.  I had high intentions to get a couple dozen scones and bring them home to share with the fam, but that’s not what happened.  It was raining when we got there, so I pulled out the ponchos that I brought with me (people were offering a $100 for them, but I think I could have gotten them to go higher.)  I didn’t want to carry around soggy scones, but I also wanted a scone, so I made Marissa wait in line with me.  If only I had captured the photo of the chicks face when I asked for a single scone. Total and complete shock (and dare I say, pity?).  She wanted to call me an idiot, but what she did was say, “How long did you wait in line for a single scone?!” Both the scone and the concert were delicious.

 

hahaha this guy... 

Over the summer I took a road trip with my siblings to Montana. For months before we left for this trip, Sean was training for the hikes we would hike, and heavily encouraging me to get ready.  After one of these calls, I spoke to Erika who oh-so-helpfully pointed out that I could be miserable for 6 weeks (of getting in shape) or be miserable for 3 days. I think we all know what I choose.  Sean warned us that we’d need to get up as early as 6:30, but also warned us that “bear drink in the morning.” 

 

I told Morgan about the above, and she told me that she went on a hike with Sean and Dave, only she worked out a head of time thinking that it was be a nice little jaunt up Anthony’s Nose (funny every time), but when she walked upstairs from her work out, they were dressed in like all of REI and then had to scale up the side of the mountain (but she couldn’t complain b/c one guy was carrying a 4 year old.)  And then she got to the top, and she doesn’t like heights, so it was decidedly not worth the trip.  Then when they went back down, they just used the trail with the STAIRS. 

 

We stopped in Leavenworth, consuming pretzels, sausages and beer from one size of the town to the other.  When we actually got to Whitefish, we stopped at a tourist information booth.  They looked at our group and suggested we get there at dawn for the sunset and that we absolutely must hike the “Highline” trail.  Discussions were had, and suddenly we were all up at 2:45, to get in the car by 3:15, armed with bear spray (because that’s when the bears drink!)

 

At 3:19, in the car, in the driveway.

Sean: The days a wasting!

Maureen: I brought my donor card so people know what my blood type was.

Stacey: I hope my uber app works.

Pat: You don’t need bear spray as long as you aren’t the slowest.

Me: That’s why I said I should carry it!!

 

So, we get to Glacier National Park, it’s still pitch black out, Sean is driving.  We are the only ones there.  We park, and its dark and freezing, and we locate the sign for the Highline trail, and start walking down… and then stop and go, “we shouldn’t be doing down to behind the mountain to see the sunrise, we should be going up.”  Maureen walks a little further, but then turns around, and we all cross the parking area to walk up a different trail. Sean was sooo nice about how incredibly out of shape I was. “Do your best and forget the rest!” is now going to be one of my new go-to phrases.  He also, super sweetly, stood in front of me on my way down so I wouldn’t pitch forward on the stairs (which is seriously a big fear of mine.)  When we got back to the parking lot, and found Pat, who had been sleeping in the car the whole time, he asked us if we saw any wildlife. We had not, but he sure did! b/c he there were mountain goats… in damn the parking lot!

 

The Highline Trail

Oh, we also rented a boat and did THE most white trash thing ever... in that we took all of the beverages out of the fridge and made a "cooler" with ice and a trash bag.  Pic for proof: 

I drove through the rest of the park, only now it was light enough to see the road, and Sean was no longer laid back about the drive, because he could actually see where we were.  I swear I was going slow and being careful, but I think Sean would have preferred to be blindfolded and had his own brake system in the passenger side.  We also drove back and finally got to see what the “Highline” trail that we were supposed to be on looked like… and it was very narrow pathway on the edge of the mountain with very steep drop off.  That is when we realized had we followed that trail, when the sun had come up, we all would have been too terrified to turn back.  I’ll never know what about us made those information people think we were tough enough for their advice, but I bet they had good laugh after we left. 

 

I obsessively watched Yellowstone when I returned from our trip.  My love of Rip and Beth has no limits.  And what I learned from all that is I’m not tough enough for Montana, and even if I was, they don’t want me living there anyway.  But it sure was nice to visit!  

 

Over Labor Day weekend I also read the Deadly Education series, per Dr. Rach’s suggestion, and then had to call her at 7am on a Sunday to tell her I was FURIOUS at her for suggesting that I read it.  But, actually, it was great.  So, feel free to read it and call me after book 2 with the same reaction.  I’ll take your fury.  Totally worth it.  Last weekend I finished 1883 (as depressing as any Oregon Trail themed show can be, but also excellent!), and I read Fourth Wing. I will be accepting any and all calls from people who want to talk about Fourth Wing (or Deadly Education, Yellowstone – but I haven’t finished 1923, so you’ll need to give me some time on that one.)

                                                                         (IYKYK) 

And I’ll wrap up by telling you that there’s this thing on TikTok that is happening this week where women are discovering that men think about the Roman Empire way more than we could ever imagine.  Weekly, sometimes DAILY.  To test the theory, I called Zach and asked him the last time he thought about the Roman Empire. His response? “An hour ago while we were at Portillo’s.”  Case closed; no further research is needed at this time.

 

The Best Way to Catch up is to Start

 

Hi Friend!

 

I watched a 2-minute clip of a TED talk about how to have better conversations.  Included in one of the ten things you need to do is not to pontificate.  They went on to say that if you wanted to go on and on about your own opinions without giving anyone a way to respond, you should start a blog.  And I thought, hey, I have a blog, I should get back to that.  I’m starting to think I’ll never be a good conversationalist. 

 

It’s been a year or three since I’ve tried to write one of these.  As many of you know, I got really into sending real letters in the mail as a way to keep connected to people, to spread a little joy.  I’ll start that back up as soon as I come up with a new, spooky, idea, but in the mean-time, digital connection is totally a thing!

 

I think trying to recap the last year might be weird, but I’ll give it my best shot.  I used to work at Microsoft on Halo & Xbox consumer products, and then suddenly I didn’t.  It’s cool though, I was told while I was on vacay in Puerto Rico, in an alley, surrounded by stray cats.  I took it pretty well, though.  And the 4 months following that day was probably the least stressed I have ever been in my life.  My biggest challenge was how to vacation and be available for interviews at the same time.  If you aren’t using TikTok for interview advice, you’re missing out.  Although, recently I saw one that said the main way that one interviewer evaluated a person was if they returned/washed their mug or glass after the interview.  I have racked my brain ever since on whether I did that – and I’m 88% sure that I did.  Right before I nearly blew the interview.  You see, I was interviewed by 9 of the 20 people at the company.  I was on my very best behavior, did not lie once (and as many of you know, this can be a problem when I’m nervous.)  I had a great big bag of games, and my hand on the exit door handle – so close! – when the CEO said good-bye and “Don’t play them all at one time!” and I immediately and instinctively said, “Don’t tell me what to do! Haha!” and left the building.   I got a job offer the next day.  I should do my own TED talk on what you shouldn’t do in a conversation.

 

My summer was off the hook and also did not look like any summer in Seattle that I’ve had previously.  I mean, it’s the end of August, and I haven’t jumped in the lake once.  I think this had a lot to do with Covid, having visitors 26 of the 30 days in July, and having a new job.  Oh! And Luke and Emily got married smack in the middle there. 

 

AND Lindsay and Nate got engaged in February, and then again in August. Zach and Fran got engaged in April and then married in May.  Excitement overload!

 

Let me go back a bit.  4 days before St. Patrick’s day, I asked if people wanted to go to Vegas, and it turns out I got Jackie, Nate, Lindsey, Lucas, Emily, Dawne and Jordan to go.  Which is so Vegas, right?   Apparently, Stacey prepped Jackie that the fam really loves Bailey b/c of all the time she’s spend out here.  Which I thought was odd, until we got into the car at the airport and Jordan immediately said, “I want to hear all about Bailey.” And I was like, “Um, we can do that, but this actually Jackie.”

 

Now, I do have some stories from when I went to Egypt, but in case I run out of energy, I’ll just jump to me getting back and having Covid and then I wasn’t able to play with Julie for the two days she was here to visit.  Which in itself isn’t a big story, but it might explain why I managed to not get Covid the following two “opportunities” that arose this summer.

 

The first was when I was deeply obsessed with the Crave series by Tracy Wolff, but also “helping” with wedding dioramas at Dawne’s.  Zach went to urgent care with “allergies” and then took benedryl and slept next to me on the couch, and the following day, when I came over to read next to Dawne who had a “migraine.”  It was slightly shocking that the following day, when Lucas had Dawne take a Covid test that both she and Zach had covid, and I had to run out the door b/c I couldn’t be sick b/c I had to, you know, start a new job.  And then, fast forward to after the wedding, a month later (and 7 days before my “immunity” wore off), when half the guests got sick, including like 10 of the 20 people staying with Dawne – all of whom I spent countless hours with – and I managed to skip the sick.  Which all means that for 4 weeks of the summer, I wasn’t exactly hopping in the lake.  It has now risen to the top of my to do list for this weekend. 

 

So that’s the last 8 months or so.  Here’s my fun anecdotes from Egypt:

 

Becky will want you to know that she got to witness me at my quirkiest before we even left Seattle because the TSA agent pulled everything out of my well organized suitcase, including all of my individual bags, so that he could put all of my liquids in one ziplock, which caused total havoc with my brain, but I was trying to still be polite.  Next to me, Becky had to bite her tongue not to say out loud, “I know she’s laughing but she actually wants to punch you the face.” 

 

I also was the only one to actual read the itinerary, which meant I was the only one constantly trying to adjust my expectations.  Becky: You’ll think you’re on vacation but you’re actually seeing all of Egypt!

 

Conversation on our Egypt trip through the Sahara:

Becky: Does anyone see a mirage yet?

Traveler 2: Will everyone see the same thing? Maybe we'll see something different?

Becky: (Traveler 2)’s mirage will be a crowd of tragic, emotionally stunted detectives who just need a woman's love to heal their hearts. My mirage will be an ocean of kittens.

Tiffany: My mirage would be the perfect itinerary that never changes.

 

Traveler 3: This to the budget (punch in the eye) hot air balloons! 

 

Becky: I am going to go ahead and say that “ safety and consent” are not pillars of Egyptian culture.

 

After our guide told us, and then again me, specifically, that we couldn’t take pictures:

 

Becky: You look mad.

Me: I’m not mad I’m seething.

And then later after Becky brought the incident back up…

Me: Is that after I cried and before he told me to smile? 

 

Guide: Oh by the way this Muhammad Ali is not the boxer.

Me: Definitely think you should have started with that. 

 

Traveler 1: You’re utilitarian - aren’t you impressed I used that word? 

Traveler 2: No, bc you heard someone else say it earlier and just repeated it.

<Pause>

Traveler 2: Oh wait did you want me to be honest or kind? 

 

Traveler 2: I like to fool people and you’re an easy mark. 

 

You’re unbearable (French stranger on the plane to the most chill person in our group.)

 

Who wore valley of the kings better - me or Tut? 

 

Traveler 1: So you’ll call and text? 

Traveler 2: No. 

 

And in no particular order b/c it was a couple of months ago, this is what we did! Quick boat ride across the Nile to the west side and then visited the Temple of Hatshepsut. She made herself look like a man and then ticked off her stepson, so he went ahead and destroyed her likeness (how sweet!). Then off to the Valley of the Kings, home to the tomb of Tutankhamon! (Yes, I took a disrespectful pic of his mummy.) All the most powerful and influential kings of Ancient Egypt were buried here, and we went to see the Seti and Ramsses III and IV tombs. Saw how Alabaster is made, and then a quick pic of the Colossi of Memnon. Visited the Temple of Horus at Edfu - one of the best-preserved shrines in Egypt built in the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 237 and 57 BC. The ceiling is black with smoke from when people occupied and built fires much much later. Coolest part of the day with a breezy 94 degrees.  And evening stroll at Temple Kom Ombo an unusual double temple for the Crocodile God and Falcon God. Partially damaged during an earthquake. Surgical tools, calendars were depicted in hieroglyphs, and we saw a system they called a Nilometer that wasn’t a well but sure did look like one. (Maybe I wasn’t paying as much attention …) Then off to the Crocodile Museum to see mummified crocs.  We also had traditional Arabic food tonight and the Koshari was the best food I’ve had yet, and the desserts were super yum.  We woke up at 1:45 am so we could travel across the Sahara to Abu Simbel Temple - which was completely moved to higher ground in 1968 to avoid being submerged from the building of the Aswan dam. Built in Ramesses II reign for the Gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah. And then he built a smaller temple next to it for his chief consort    Nefertari and the Goddess Hathor.  And, we checked out the dam in Aswan then flew to Cairo. From there we went to the Church of St George, Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church (where it is said that Jesus, Mary and Joseph stayed during their journey to Egypt) and The Fortress of Babylon (where maybe Joseph worked for a bit?) and the Alabaster Mosque and medieval fortification of Saladin Citadel, on top of a hill in central Cairo dating back to the 12th-century. We then went to the Khan El-Khalili neighborhood and its historic bazaar where I got some chicken Shawarma (sooo good!) and traditional pastries. 

 

I have many more stories, but I think it’s good to just get an update done, and then maybe I can actually be more regular about this, even if I have to jump around for content. 

 

Fall! (2020)

Update 11/2/2020- 11/22/2020

Hi Friend!

 

On November 2^nd, Chelsea and I drove across the country.  I didn’t want to post it on my blog b/c you know, I thought I would at least try to have a lil mystery for potential burglars at my place.  I had pretty much prepared to be stuck in a now ditch, so it was a lovely surprise to drive through 3,000 miles of 75 and sunny weather.  At one point, we had been on the road for 3 hours, thinking about our full bladders and empty gas tank and how we had had such a smooth ride we were afraid to say anything to jinx it, when a bunch of police cars were blocking the road and directing traffic towards the exit.  There was a tracker-trailer overturned and blocking the highway.  We even more thinking about our full bladders, and how there might be a big line of cars and people at the stop.  Turns out “directing all the traffic” meant about 4 cars, and there was no wait for either need.  There was, however, Snoop Dogg wine for sale!  And the gas pump was one of those old timey machines where the numbers click to the next number.  As if that wasn’t awesome enough, this was also the exit we wanted to get off at because it also had the Theodore Roosevelt National Park!  Chelsea paid the park fee (thanks Chels!) and we explored the not closed bits of the park.  We saw wild horses! And footprints as big as Percy’s head! At one point, Chelsea said, “What are those?” and then we realized that all the “rocks” we had seen were actually prairie dogs… hundreds of prairie dogs.  We were heading back out, and I was saying it would have made the trip perfect if we had seen some bison, when I turned a corner and there were bison in the middle of the road.  We waited for them to take their time and be on their way, and then zoomed out of the park and onto the other side of the highways beyond the accident. 

 

Unfortunately, many of the states, and especially North Dakota, we found people not into wearing masks.  We would get out of the car, start pumping gas, and then Chelsea would come out of the small store saying, “NO MASKS! NO MASKS! GET BACK IN THE CAR!” Which is really unfortunate because stops and, more importantly drive thru food, was few and far far far between.  We would think about lunch around noon and then finally eat at 3.  We stopped at a “town” where there was a hospital and then an hour and half later we saw an ambulance driving the other way with the hospital name on it driving the other way.  I guess you gotta really hope you have some basic first aid skills in Big Sky country.  I also suppose, if you move to a state like that, finding out you need to wear masks to protect yourself (or others) is completely ridiculous… I mean you live there so you don’t have to see people for days or months or maybe years?  Either way, I hope they mask up or stay home, but either way, get things healthy soon because driving to the ER is not going to be easy. 

 

Chelsea and I had hoped that we might be able to see the beautiful leaves of autumn on our trip, but a large chunk of our trip had snow weeks before and the trees were already bare.  When we got to Minnesota, Chelsea yelled, “FALL!” and I was startled and confused until I realized she was pointing at leaves on the trees.  (I would later drive through Indiana, Ohio and PA mentally yelling, “FALL!”)  We also tried not looking at the election on our drive.  I mean we checked the sitch once on election night, once the morning after and then one more time right before we got to WI – so we prayed, COME ON WISCONSIN! YOU CAN DO THIS! And then when we hit IL – WI was called for Biden!  In Chicago, I parted ways with Chelsea as we both reflected it had been the quickest cross country trip ever! I then got to stay with my cousin Colleen (who had been up all night watching the election) and see my Aunt Audrye! It was sooo sooo lovely.  Colleen even woke up early to have coffee with me before I left. We were talking about what we have learned on tiktok, and Colleen said she still can’t fold a fitted sheet – so I showed her on a twin sheet.  I also said, it’s a lot easier with a bigger sheet.  She said she might need to get a bigger bed then.  I then asked her, “Have you and Charlie been sleeping on twin beds this whole time?  Man is he going to be excited that you finally caved on getting a bigger bed just so you can fold the sheets more easily!”

 

I did the same prayer as I was driving through Pennsylvania and then called Julie and Nick to find out what the hell the were doing over there. Before I knew it, I was home in just 4 days!  First day home and there were 9 wild turkeys outside! I haven't seen that happen since high school! 

 

 

The next two weeks were lots of QT with my parents and sister and I even got to go for a walk with Briana and Sienna and to hang around Jeanine and Kevin’s fancy new fire pit. So much outdoor, social distanced fun!   

 

Stacey: Jackie has been working on her ass.

Jeanine: Oh?  A lil J Lo action?

Jackie: I prefer JO. The is for large and I haven’t gotten there yet.

 

Mo: Pat got his 70’s Truck.

Me: Where did he get it?

Mo: He walked down to the bottom of the hill because he knew I wouldn’t drive him.

Me: What color is the truck?

Mo: Rust colored. I’m not even joking. Two toned.

 

Mo was sent home (I mean the whole school was sent home) because some kids had a huge party on Halloween. Mo had to quarantine and get tested b/c there was a kid with covid that went to the party in her class. Luckily, it she was negative because living next door to my sister and trying to quarantine looked like me talking to her while she was standing 60 feet from me.

 

I took a walk with Stacey and Bailey when I first got back at Teatown.  It was lovely, and kinda cool that not only was everyone masked but they have people walking in one direction.  I thought I was in such good shape from walking so much at home, but apparently I was walking slow and on flat ground because both Percy and I were huffing a bit on the trail.  We’ll get there! 

 

Mo and I have been trying to find moments to walk between meetings or before and after work starts – even if it’s just walking on Mountain.  We also went to FDR park, although one we went at around 4, forgetting how quickly it gets dark and wearing the oh-so-helpful color scheme of all black. 

 

We have also been playing lots of canasta. I even played my mom and she didn’t yell at my “follow your heart” strategy – but only because we won.

 

Frita and I have been working on holiday cards.  I printed out labels for both of us to help reduce the handwriting (for my dad who usually does it all old-school.)  We were discussing who else he sends them out to, and he responded, “I send them to people and I don’t even know if they’re alive.”

 

My cousin posted this story about her 2 year old Cora:

Cora was mad about being in her car seat today taking Finn to school... yelling at me that it’s “too tight”.

I told her she needs it to be like that to keep her safe, if we got in an accident she would fall out.

Her response... “I’ll take that chance!!!”

 

Oh, and I also have been craving a big cookie from Great American Cookie company, so I go ahead and ordered one for myself… No Regrets!

 

 

And here’s some other random fun from the week: