little black journal

It was another gray Seattle weekend, but somehow the rain has yet to get me down.  This is usually the time of year that I get antsy and start looking for cheap flights to Hawaii or Florida, but lately I’m pretty content to just pass our weekends at home or in the company of good friends – coffee, chocolate, and long talks over spaghetti or Thai food are working wonders for my spirit.  Cases in point:

We spent Friday night christening Jack and La Verne’s new house with pasta and roasted veggies and goat cheese smeared on toast – it’s so good to see that Jack already feels perfectly at home in his new kitchen.  I’m looking forward to many more meals and glasses wine of and evenings spent laughing around the table at this new place of theirs…

Shane had plans for a snow-shoeing trip and bar crawl on Saturday to celebrate the end of our friend Jon’s bachelorhood, and so I promptly filled my day with plans for lunch with a friend, some fun errand-running, and dinner with the ladies – with plenty of time set aside to settle into the couch and indulge in some quality chick-flicking.  I got an early start on my to-do’s and spent a couple of hours scrubbing our shower with a vengeance  (I forgot to mention scum-free tiles when talking about my dream home), and then headed out to pick up a couple of things for Amanda’s bridal shower invitations.  That trip proved to be unfruitful, as I couldn’t find the paper store, got stuck in the middle of a hoard of screaming teenage girls waving Hunger Games posters outside Crate and Barrel (yeah, weird…), and became so overwhelmed with the people and the traffic in North Seattle that I just turned around and headed home.  I grumbled to myself about the time I had wasted on my perfectly-planned day, but then promptly put my frustrations aside when Jeannie picked me up for our lunch date at our neighborhood Thai place.  We spent a couple of hours catching up over curry and coffee, and I left the restaurant feeling so thankful for the goodness that comes out of an afternoon of girl talk.  I spent the rest of the day on paper quest number two (success!) and doing some stuff around the house before heading back out to pick up La Verne for an evening with Nancy, as our guys were just beginning their epic pub crawl.  The three of us sat at the table over takeout and talked for hours about…everything, really.  Parents, babies, husbands, how to make the perfect cup of hot chocolate – you know, the important stuff.

Saturday had turned out to be so much busier than I’d planned on, but I made up for it today by partaking in some heavy-duty “me-time”.  I set up shop in the living room this afternoon while Shane spent a few hours upstairs recovering from the bachelor party and an early-morning call from work.  I watched movies and painted and drank tea and made myself an over-the-top good salad for lunch.  And when I tired of hanging out on the couch, I headed over to Mioposto to drink coffee and read and watch the sun try to peek through the clouds and shine on Mount Baker Park.  It was just what the doctor ordered (the “doctor” being my introverted conscience…).

I’m ending the weekend with a few boxes unchecked on my to-do list, but I’m alright with that – the past 48 hours will still go down as time well-spent.

Yesterday was the first totally plan-free Saturday we’ve had in awhile, so we started scheming on Friday for a little day-long getaway.  We decided on Port Townsend as our destination, packed our coats and scarves (the forecast called for chilly temps and heavy winds), and yesterday morning, we were off!

We arrived in Port Townsend just before noon and settled into a cozy table at Sweet Laurette, a cute little French bistrot with gigantic omelettes and mimosas served with a slice of pineapple.

We had hoped to settle our full bellies with a walk along the beach, but about five steps out of the car, and I was so chilled I had to turn back.  Brrrrrrrr…

And so we drove through the nearby state park, stopping to have a chat with the deer that didn’t seem the least bit bothered by our presence – such friendly locals!

We then bundled up and strolled through the charming little downtown.

Five blocks later, we had seen the extent of Port Townsend’s mainstreet (yes, I said mini adventure), and so we ducked into a coffee shop where we could enjoy a view of the water with a warm mug of chai.

When deciding on which route to take back to Seattle, Shane had to utter only one word to seal the deal for taking the ferry via Bainbridge Island:  Mora’s.  This is one of my all-time favorite ice cream shops, and a split-scoop of blackberry and sabayon was all I needed to make the entire trip totally worth it.

We stepped out onto the deck of the ferry as we neared Seattle and watched the sun struggle to break through the clouds, feeling so thankful for the charm, beauty, and flavors that make up the Pacific Northwest.

Admittedly, I wallowed a bit on Friday.  But sometimes I need to be down before I can be up again, so my grief wasn’t all for naught – after a bout of heartache, I eventually climb out of my hole and more genuinely appreciate life’s little blessings.  And this weekend was full of these glimmers of goodness…

Like my beautiful latte at Vivace on Saturday morning, sipped over a particularly good book club meeting with the ladies.

And my perfect, moist frosting-topped cupcake, a super-thoughtful little gift from Erica.

My new gray wedges and black heels, cause sometimes shoe shopping really is the best medicine.

Sunday morning brunch with Shane at our favorite cozy Irish pub, complete with Mimosas (for Shane), hot coffee (for me), and thick, crispy bacon (for us).

The satisfying feeling of tiredness that came after a run along Lake Washington.

And then spending the rest of the afternoon in my pajamas, drinking tea and painting and listening to the lastest Coldplay album.

I’m also so thankful for the people in my life that pull me out of that hole when I find I’m too tired to climb out of it myself – the kind comments and text messages and hugs and cupcakes are like new shoes for my soul – merci, friends.

The past couple days might very well go down as one of the best weekends of 2012.  I know, it’s still early in the year, so I might be jumping the gun, but we did some serious lovin’ life and livin’ large this weekend.  On Friday afternoon, we hit the road with Jack and La Verne and headed east to snowy Leavenworth for a big-bash weekend to celebrate Jack’s birthday.  La Verne had found an amazing house and loaded the car with food and wine, and from the moment we opened the door, set our bags down, and watched Jack pop the sugar-crusted slow-roasted pork in the oven for dinner, I knew: this would be epic.  The rest of the party people trickled in as the evening went on, and by 10:00, all fourteen of us were sitting around the living room, enjoying the warmth of a fire and the company of good friends.

It was dark when we arrived on Friday evening, so I was happily surprised when I awoke on Saturday and found that the house was perched on a ridge overlooking a river on one side a pear orchard on the other, in the midst of serene, snowy, pine-covered mountains.  I took one look out the huge living room windows and was ready to move in.

In addition to the incredible views, the house came with its very own ukelele – I couldn’t resist snapping a pic as La Verne strummed its strings and Shane gazed pensively out the window.  Such a Zen kind of morning…

A few of the guys headed out to hit the slopes at Stevens while the rest of us cozied up for a day at the house.  I changed out of my pajamas around 11 am and did a little yoga with La Verne and Alice, then showered, napped, read, had a living room dance party with little Gryffin and Isaiah (I would understand if Nancy never forgives me for introducing her boys to Britney Spears…), and generally reveled in the joy of a warm mountain cabin.  The clouds parted in the afternoon and Shane and I took a short walk to check out the orchard and the amazing little terrace overlooking the river.  We sat on a bench and took in the view while the sun warmed our faces – it was, in a word, perfection.

We all convened in the kitchen once the skiers got home and feasted on hearty helpings of spaghetti and meatballs – this was Mike and Alice’s first weekend away with the group, and I believe Mike used the phrase “eating like kings” at some point.  Welcome to life with Jack and La Verne, dude!  It’s goooooood.

We sat around the table and ate and played games and drank and laughed, eventually making our way to the living room to build a fire and sprawl out on the couches and floor for more laughter and story-telling.  Sometimes I wish I had a tape recorder for our bizarre, hilarious late-night conversations.  Then again, some things are better left unrecorded…  I went to bed that night with abs sore from so much giggling.

Sadly, we had to check out on Sunday morning, but not before enjoying a few more precious moments in the snow.

I’m so glad I documented Brian’s beard-stache combo while it lasted – he showed up on the doorstep on Friday night in a brightly wrapped box, and when Nicole told Jack to open his present, he found…this:  Brian had carved away at his beard and styled his facial hair extra-fancy just for Jack (who has admitted to a total inability to cultivate anything more than a patchy fuzz on his own baby-skinned face).  Sometimes you have to get creative when gift-giving for the man who has everything – well done, Brian.  Well done.

The birthday boy and his rockstar wife…

We stopped in the town of Leavenworth on our way home, saddened to have said good-bye to our party pad, but finding consolation in beer, brats, and gelato.

We made it back to rainy Seattle mid-afternoon, the weather here fitting for the post-party funk I quickly fell into.  On the bright side, I have so much to be thankful for in the friendships we’ve found in this funny, close-knit, brilliant group of people.  We have already declared this trip an annual tradition – and I’m counting down the days to 2013.

We are now half-way through our annual tradition of Frugal January – 16 days and counting of no eating out, no stops at the cafe for a piping hot latte, no shopping, no non-essential spending.  And really, it hasn’t been so bad, especially when we have weekends like this one when all I really want to do is hole up inside with my Kindle and my stash of tea and chocolate, anyway.  The past couple of days might very well go down in the books as laze-fest 2012, as I spent nearly every waking moment on the couch, leaving the house only to accept a couple of dinner invitations from friends (which was perfect, since cooking would have required more effort than I was willing to put forth, anyway…).  And it. was. glorious. Sunday was particularly perfect – we’d heard murmurings on Saturday that Seattle-ites could soon expect the first snowfall of the season, and I awoke the next morning to frosty rooftops and freezing temps.  It wasn’t quite the white wonderland I’d hoped for, but I kept my fingers crossed and by 10am, big, puffy flakes were falling from the sky, draping our yard in a bright white blanket.  We watched the neighborhood kids make snow angels in the driveway, I baked pumpkin spice muffins, and we burrowed under a pile of blankets for some serious veg time.  While Shane watched football, I pulled out my watercolors and played around in my sketchbook, reveling in the comfort of our home and the pretty, bright light that came through the windows as it bounced off the snow.  It was all kinds of good.

We ended the day with a hot pot dinner at Jack and La Verne’s – a January tradition I’ve come to associate with so much warmth and laughter and fellowship – a good-for-my-soul kind of meal for a good-for-my-soul kind of weekend.

I’ve said it before – I really, really love traditions.  And I especially love sharing those traditions with close friends, our “Seattle family”, watching our relationships change and grow from year to year.  I also love a good party, paired with copious amounts of chocolate and cheese, so when our annual c-group fondue party rolls around each year, I am pumped.  And this year certainly did not disappoint.

We made one minor modification this time around and changed our “post-fondue 5k” to a “pre-fondue 5k”, so the festivities kicked off yesterday morning, when the tried and true met at Seward Park and set off on our 3-mile loop.  The guys left La Verne and I in their dust, but we were alright with that, as we enjoyed a good chat on our leisurely jog.  We spent awhile goofing off at the beach after the run with some photo silliness (we have all decided that Jack’s should win an award for his in-air camera poses), and then headed over to Empire Espresso to kick off our day-long calorie-fest with lattes and waffles.

(photo by Jack)

After a lazy afternoon, we gussied up and headed over to Jack and La Verne’s for the big party.  Shane and I took part in a friendly dual with Jason and Nance over who could make the more exquisite cheese fondue, and after much banter and taste-testing, we ultimately decided to call it a tie.  It’s tough to be super-discerning when you’re giddy with the goodness of wine-infused melted cheese.  However, Jason wins hands-down for best pose for a fondue ad – he could be Gruyere’s poster-child with a gaze like this…

or not…

The evening was pure bliss, full of so much food, drink, and laughter.

The fondue party wouldn’t be complete without our annual white elephant gift exchange.  There are a couple of particularly desirable gifts that pop up year after year – like this crystal-framed kinda-scary photo of Lee.  Jason is laughing on the outside, but inside he’s thinking, “Crap.  Where can I stash this for a year?”

Our active rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas is another old favorite.  Jack kept his role as the guitar-playing “goose a-laying”, and Daniel killed it with his improv version of the “Piper Piping”.

We ended the night with a little Kinect dance party, and finally made our way home just as the cheese-and-chocolate coma began to set in.  What a night…  Cheers, friends – already looking forward to next year.

(photos by La Verne)

When I first moved to Seattle over six years ago, I prayed that I’d find girlfriends here that I could come to know and love and count on through thick and thin; God heard me loud and clear and slowly but surely brought a group of really fabulous women into my life. And I’ve been loving my ladies somethin’ fierce these days, with lots of extra-special girl-fests popping up on the calendar. I was sitting in a movie theater with several friends last weekend, and as we all rolled our eyes (translation: gaped, open-mouthed) and giggled (translation: swooned) together over the latest Twilight movie, I wondered how I got so lucky. It was just so…good for my soul to take part in an all-out ladies night, to sit around a dinner table and share in deep, meaningful conversation, then head to a movie and be silly and young together.

I can’t ever get enough of these gals, which is why I proposed a little a getaway sans husbands to Nancy and La V a few weeks ago. It took all of three seconds to convince them we were due for a night away together, and so we promptly booked a room at the Willows Lodge in Woodinville, scheduled our massages, packed our bags with chick flicks and nail polish and junk food, and yesterday at noon, we were off. It. was. heaven. From the minute we set foot in our room and watched Nancy take a flying leap onto one of the big, fluffy beds, we knew we were in for something good. I think we would have been happy just to put our pajamas on mid-afternoon and hole up for the next 24 hours, but we all had appointments at the lodge’s spa, so we headed back out for our massages and a good, long soak in the whirlpool. Feeling super-relaxed and sufficiently prune-like, we headed back to the room, again thinking we’d be happy to put our pajamas on and call it a night, but instead decided to head down to the hotel bar, where we enjoyed a light dinner, fire-side. The rest of the night was filled with pedicures, Reese’s peanut butter cups, and chick flicks back at the room. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep with a smile on my face last night – could have been the massage, or it could have been Ryan Gosling’s performance in The Notebook, but I’m pretty sure it was actually the time with my girls that had me so giddy. This morning was full of more lazy goodness, with breakfast in bed while we watched Little Women, thoughtfully debating which March sister each of us resembled the most, but ultimately deciding it didn’t matter- we really just wanted to end up with Laurie. Check-out time was at noon, and we grudgingly rolled our bags out the door at 12:01, feeling a little bummed that our epic little getaway had come to an end, but certain that there would be more of these in the future.

We summer-ed to the max this weekend, spending lots of time soaking in the afternoon rays and eating nearly all of our meals outdoors.  The highlights:

We spent Saturday evening out on Vashon Island, eating ourselves silly at Jack and La Verne’s garden dinner party, hosted by Michelle’s grandparents.  I could not have picked a better spot to enjoy a meal on one of the warmest days of the season – island living is so, so good.

The boys played on the lawn, chasing each other in circles and making me question our ‘urban dream’ – these wide open spaces are feelin’ pretty, pretty dreamy…

And seriously, is there anything that screams summertime more than an adorable dirt-caked face?

And the food, oooooohhhh, the food.  We always know we’re in for a treat when Jack and LaV are planning the menu, and they brought their A+ game to the table that night.  We started with perfect little cups of spicy gazpacho, and then feasted on prosciutto-wrapped figs, corn fresh from the garden, grilled steaks topped with fig-bacon marmalade, and rich chocolate cake for dessert (notice there are no photos of food after the gazpacho rolled out, since I was too busy stuffing my face with all that summery goodness to pick up my camera…).

We sat around the table in the middle of the yard and ate, and laughed, and drank wine, and soaked in the bliss that is a summer evening with good friends.  La Verne made the comment as we were driving home that evening that no matter how much time we all spend together, she never seems to get sick of any of us.  Ditto, girl…

Far too soon, it was time to catch our ferry back to Seattle.  As sad as I was to bid farewell to the island, I still left with a smile on my face, knowing that meal would go down in the books as the ultimate summer-time feast of 2011.

We were up early on Sunday morning to cheer on Jack, Jason, and Ben at the Mercer Island triathlon.  Again, more sunshine, more lounging on the grass, and, as a post-race treat, brunch out on the patio at Bennett’s (if I keep eating like this, I’m going to have to actually sign up for one of these races…).

(photo from la verne)

I set up camp on our back porch on Sunday afternoon with my book, knowing I won’t have many more chances to keep up the slight tan I’ve worked so hard for.  I suspect that in the not-too-distant future, I will already have forgotten what it feels like to actually be hot.  So when I do forget, I can look back and remind myself:  it feels dang good.

I tagged along with Shane and Jason as they played a round of frisbee golf later in the afternoon and then, determined to maximize our outdoor-hours, Shane and I grabbed dinner on the patio of a little Mexican restaurant in West Seattle.  Jumbo margaritas, anyone?

And with that, our weekend summer-fest came to a close.  Today I awoke to gray skies and didn’t once reach for my sunglasses or even think about taking off my long-sleeved cardigan.  Ah, well, it was a heck of a ride while it lasted…

It was a weekend full of so much goodness, from the overladen table of Indian food we plowed through with Jason and Nancy on Friday night, to the salmon we pulled off the grill for dinner just a couple of hours ago.  And all kinds of summertime perfection in between…

I told Shane on Saturday morning that I was in the mood for an adventure – the sun was shining, our day was wide open, and I was itching to do something out of the ordinary.  However, inspiration wasn’t striking me, and so I figured I’d settle for a stroll down to our favorite ice cream shop for a scoop of salted caramel ice cream (life on the edge!) and a glass of wine on the back patio.  There are worse ways to spend a summer afternoon…  But Shane had bigger, better plans brewing, and as soon as I made it back from my morning run, I was given direct orders to take a quick shower, grab a blanket and a book, and hop in the car.  We were heading east, bound for Rattlesnake Lake for an afternoon picnic by the water.  Not too shabby, for a last-minute mini-getaway!

We spent hours laying on our blanket in the shade, feeling little spots of sunlight make their way through the canopy of leaves overhead.  Shane dodged each ray like it was a laser-beam (he overheats easily), but I was in sunshiny heaven.

We made a couple of pit-stops on the way back to Seattle (one for a mini-spree at the Banana Republic outlet in North Bend, then another for self-serve fro-yo at Yogurtland), and arrived home with just enough time to squeeze in a solid nap before dinner.  It’s surprising how sleepy an afternoon of lounging/eating/shopping can make you (or maybe I’m just lazy?).

We spent last night with our friends Jordan and Belinda – they are moving out of the country in a few weeks and needed some help emptying their liquor cabinet before they skip town.  Shane, being the selfless and giving friend that he is, was quick to offer his cocktail-consuming services.  We kicked off the night with Cadillac margaritas, and I wish I’d snapped a photo before we sipped (er…slurped) them all down.  They really were a thing of beauty – if summer could be captured in a single drink, I think it would be in that fresh, citrusy glass of Tequila-laced goodness.  We sat around the table for hours, chatting and drinking and snacking on the lemon tart I picked up from Whole Foods.  Shane has a new appreciation for Tequila.  And for friends like Jack that let him off the hook when he’s not quite feeling up for a previously-scheduled Sunday morning training run.

I spent much of today in the office (a total travesty), but whipped through my deadline to-do’s quickly enough to still enjoy a couple of sunny hours sitting on the back patio and working in the yard (I suppose the one unfortunate by-product of all this sun is the couple of neglected, dried-out plants that needed replacing in our back planter).  An evening jog down to the lake, dinner on the grill, and it was time to say so long to another lovely summer weekend.  Cheers!  And, sigh…

Our love affair with summer in Seattle continues…  Shane and I started our Saturday with morning runs (mine being a leisurely 3-mile jog around Jefferson Park, his being a 10-mile trek to Mercer Island and back), and then spread out a blanket at the park around the corner from us to catch the Blue Angels air show that happens as part of SeaFair every year.  I love this event – it’s loud, and it causes traffic, and it blocks our access to the lake for a couple of days, but the feeling of ‘wow!’ you get when you see those four planes fly right over your head in perfect formation is pretty spectacular.  As you get older, it seems that there are fewer things that really make you ‘ooh and ahh’ anymore, but these pilots never fail induce that childlike wonder in me.  And…that was really the extent of the day’s excitement – I passed the rest of the afternoon reading/dozing on the back patio.  And catching up on a few Grey’s Anatomy re-runs (seriously, how crazy was the end of season 6!?).  Good stuff.

After spending much of today indoors at a volunteer event, I was itching to get out and sun-soak this evening.  Shane suggested Lincoln Park in West Seattle – since we live so close to Lake Washington, I often forget about all the great places to walk along the shores of the Puget Sound, and look what I’ve been missing out on!

It was a perfect evening for a sunset stroll.  We walked, we chatted, we sat on a log and watched the fishermen throw their final casts of the day, and we wondered, is there anywhere more ideal than Seattle in the summer?