little black journal

Well, well – look who came to visit!

Yep, the Giants are in town and it’s been an action-packed weekend, starting on a Friday night spent with Jack and La Verne at Safeco Field.  We entered the park with the throngs of other fans clad in orange in black, stalked Buster Posey for a few minutes, and then settled into our seats with a beer and a couple of bratwursts.  It was grand.

Oh, and guess who hit an upper-deck home run at his very first at-bat?  Just sayin’…

The Giants were up by two in the sixth and things were going swimmingly until Jack started to feel not-so-good.  Not-so-good quickly escalated to almost passing out, and within a few minutes he was put into an ambulance, all of us fearing that the bleeding ulcer that knocked him down three years ago had returned.  The ER doctor confirmed that was the case, and so Jack has spent the entire weekend under close watch at the hospital.  Thankfully, he’s feeling better and should be back at home tomorrow, but it certainly wasn’t how we’d hoped the evening would end…  (Jack, this is me kindly asking you to take your medicine!)

Saturday started early as our c-group gathered at Quest to kick off our first (annual?) Denim Dash 5k.  Our church gives each small group $200 every year and challenges us to bless our communities, and we decided to use our funds to make t-shirts and host a 5k race, with the intention of raising money and support for the Bridge Care Center, a homeless support center that was founded by Quest a couple of years ago.  We would take whatever money we made and use it to buy jeans, as the Bridge is always in need of clothing donations.  Thus, the idea for the Bridge to Bridge Denim Dash 5k was born, and we spent several weeks working out the details, mapping the route, and soliciting sign-ups.  We had our qualms about how many people would actually show up on that gray Saturday morning, but by 9:00, over 75 adults and kids had gathered to support our cause.  Shane led everyone to the starting line, and they were off!

Brian dressed in his finest, wanting to be extra-certain that no one missed the turn-around point.  Well done, bud.

This photo makes me laugh out loud – slow down, J!  Little Zebo is looking exceptionally wind-blown…

Women who can run while simultaneously pushing a stroller and giving a thumbs-up should get a medal.

Our smiles are indicative of our relief over how well it went!

The event was a complete success – the rain stayed away, everyone had a great time, and we more than tripled our money, meaning that we’ll be able to stock the Bridge with a pretty hefty supply of jeans!  This may be the first of many more Denim Dashes to come…

Shane and I were both beat by the time we got home, so we spent the afternoon vegging out and taking a pretty epic nap.  We listened to the Giants game on the radio in the evening and felt compelled to get out and enjoy the sunset as Dave Flemming and Jon Miller raved from Safeco Field about how beautiful the sky was.  We jetted over to Beacon Hill just in time to see the sun fall behind Seattle’s skyline, feeling thankful for a day full of so much activity and so much relaxation.

Today was yet another baseball-centric day – the sunshiny weather forecast looked like it was going to hold, so drove back over to Safeco in the morning to buy tickets for the afternoon game.  Shane scored a couple of cheap seats on the upper deck, and we were left with just enough time to make it to the Capitol Hill Farmer’s Market for lunch at Kedai Makan.  We thought last week’s fare from this Malaysian food stand was good, but this week proved to be even better – braised pork over noodles and curry chicken over rice?  Yes, please!

We headed back over to Safeco and spent awhile watching MadBum warm up in the bullpen – he was lookin’ good!  Our hopes were high.

But dang it, the Giants just couldn’t pull this one out.  Unfortunately, all-star pitching won’t get you very far if the rest of the team can’t knock in some runs.  The Mariners walked away with the win, and we walked away with our shoulders slumped in defeat.  I told Shane I was disappointed that this was the last time we’d see our team play this year.  He reminded me that we’d be making a trip down to San Francisco when the Giants make the play-offs.  His optimism is so endearing…

We ended the weekend with a trip to the hospital to see Jack, grateful that he’s on the mend and has the support of a woman as strong and caring as La Verne.  I know this has been an incredibly trying weekend for both of them, but they were full of smiles and jokes when we walked into his room – their positivity is so, so admirable.  Now let’s hope the Giants have at least a bit of Jack’s resilient spirit – clearly our friend doesn’t need the stress of any more losses!

I know people say that Summer doesn’t truly arrive in Seattle until the 4th of July, but after the weekend we had, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that my favorite season is coming early this year (gosh, I hope I didn’t just jinx it…).

We started our weekend with the Kate Lynn Logan and JJ Heller show at the Q Cafe. It was a great, chill night of music – JJ is lovely and adorable with a super-sweet voice and a husband that accompanies her perfectly on the guitar. And late night Happy Hour after the show with Jack and La Verne at Daniels’ Broiler wasn’t half-bad, either…

We were up early on Saturday to run in the “Free Them 5k”, a fundraiser organized by the life-changing folks at World Concern. It was inspiring to see so many people turn out for a such a good cause. And the run was a blast – not at all competitive, but just a bunch of friends out for a jog on a beautiful day.

We headed home after the race for a shower, and then grabbed our bikes and were back out the door to ride to Jack and La Verne’s for an afternoon barbecue. We made a quick stop at the ball fields down the street to watch some of the neighborhood kids take a whack at tee ball. And my goodness, they were so cute with their give-it-your-all swings and helmets bobbling as they rounded the bases.

After barbecue part one at Jack and La Verne’s, we rode back home for barbecue part two with Justin and Lindsey. Fresh salmon hot off the grill, good conversation with some of our favorite neighbors, and one incredibly adorable baby that made me giggle as she pushed her face up against the door for a game of peek-a-boo with Shane. I predict this is only the first of many backyard dinners to come over the next few months. Yessssssss…

5k’s are kind of like chump change for Shane these days – he was up at 6:00 this morning to head over to Kirkland for yet another half-marathon. Jack, La Verne and I staked out the finish line and cheered like crazy as he rounded the bend several minutes earlier than expected. My man is a total rockstar – 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 39 minutes. Insane! I’m so proud of him. He dedicated this run to his mom in honor of Mother’s Day and said he thought of her whenever he needed encouragement to push up a particularly tough hill – his super-fast time is proof that she has been so, so good to him.

Post-race, we headed to Capitol Hill to check out the Farmer’s Market, but finding that it wasn’t open yet, we settled on sandwiches and an outdoor table at Homegrown. News flash!: I believe I may have found the best breakfast sandwich in Seattle. A fluffy fried egg, perfectly crisp bacon, Beecher’s cheese, and a toasted potato bun. Wowsers, it was good.

We napped and watched baseball and sat out on the back porch this afternoon, soaking in the joy of a lazy, sunny Sabbath. I eventually worked up the energy to get out of the house for ice cream from Full Tilt – tell me this photo isn’t proof that Summer really is almost here!

We took our cones to-go and drove over to Genessee Park to lay on the grass and catch the last of the day’s rays next to the blue waters of Lake Washington.

Ahhhhh, the bliss of a Vitamin D high…

It was a pretty grand weekend.  Grand in a run-of-the-mill kind of way, but that’s exactly what I was craving after a long week at work.  Plenty of rest, good times with friends, and a healthy dose of sunshine.

I kicked off Saturday with the ladies at our book club meeting – good coffee, good book (Go read The Book Thief!  You’ll love it!), and some good catching up with each other.  All kinds of good happening at Espresso Vivace that morning…

We spent Saturday evening at Jack and La Verne’s, making use of their new patio furniture and feasting on the fruits of Jack’s stellar grill skills.

Shane took a break from the action to hang with baby Stella.  I raised my eyebrows when Nicole asked Shane to put Stella in her footy pajamas, wondering if he’d be up for the task, but he was a like an old pro as he snapped her up, wrapped her in her fuzzy blanket, and took her in his arms for a quieting stroll around the house.  This man is going to make one heck of dad some day.

We ended the night with Beard Papa’s cream puffs and hot tea – again, so good!

I was thrilled to wake up this morning and see sunshine glowing through our bedroom curtains.  We spent some time after church this morning poking around Ballard, walking across the Locks and enjoying the blue, sunshiny skies.

I had a long list of to-do’s I’d planned on tackling this afternoon, but ultimately decided those chores and errands could wait:  I needed an afternoon of guilt-free veggin’.  I read and dozed on the couch, pulling myself out of sleep just in time to watch the Giants beat the Brewers in the 11th inning.  Woot!

Once the game was over, Shane and I moved our laze-fest to the backyard, to read and sip cocktails and dote on our neighbors’ new Shiba Inu puppy.

And that’s a wrap on this pretty perfect weekend.  Productivity is sooooo over-rated.

Happy Easter! I’m especially joyful this special Sunday, after a weekend full of sunshine and friends and meaningful time at church. The Good Friday service at Quest was just what I needed to put the work week behind me and shift my focus toward reflection, rest, and the redemptive power of the God I follow. “Good” Friday has always sounded strange to me, considering the fact that it marks a day of such unimaginable suffering and pain, but it’s true that in the midst of sorrow over knowing what Jesus endured, there is deep, deep goodness and comfort in knowing how loved I am. And there was certainly goodness to be found in sitting in the sanctuary and wrestling with sadness and hope and repentance and gratefulness. The Easter “story” felt so abundantly real to me that night.

I was eager to get out of the house on Saturday morning, but feeling a little low on energy due to a cold I’ve been fighting all weekend, so I skipped my morning run and instead settled on brunch at bright and cozy Tilikum Place Cafe. Shane and I were both coming off a full week, so it was good to sit down and focus on genuinely catching up with each other. In the midst of a full calendar, I can forget how nice (and necessary) it is to sit down and pour my heart to that guy, and then to hear him do the same with me.

We spent the afternoon errand-running and doing some things around the house, I baked my most favorite mint chocolate brownies and threw together a pot of soup, and then we headed over to Brian and Nicole’s for dinner with them and precious little Stella. At four weeks old, she’s already a heart-stealer. I restrained myself from holding her due to my sniffles, but got a lot of joy out of Shane’s proud grin as he bounced her to sleep. I expect these two will be great buds someday.

After church this morning, we went to Jason and Nancy’s for festivities with our Seattle family. We watched the little (and big!) kids collect chocolate filled eggs, we ate burgers and bratwursts hot off the grill, and we all chatted and laughed, giddy with the beauty of a springtime Easter day.

We sang these words at church today and my heart was so full of conviction and thankfulness and perfect, boundless peace:

I’m running to your arms
I’m running to your arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough

Yes, He is enough. And yet, He has given me so much more.

It was a jam-packed weekend, full of good times with our closest amigos. After toasting to the sunshine on Friday night, we headed out to the symphony – our buzz was momentarily killed when we realized we’d forgotten our tickets and had to drive back home (therefore missing the first piece), and then weren’t allowed in for the second piece because we had “accidentally” gone to the wrong door in an effort to switch our back row seats for box seats (good idea, Jack…), but we eventually made our way inside and were able to enjoy a solid 20 minutes of music. Sigh. It was fine, though – the pizza we ate afterwards at Bar del Corso was the real show-stopper for me…

Saturday morning was full of to-do’s around the house, but we spiffed ourselves up in the afternoon and drove over to our church for Jon and Adrienne’s wedding. Shane and I have known Jon for several years now, and when he shared the news in 2010 ago that he’d “met a girl”, we thought it sounded kinda serious. And indeed it was! We were thrilled for him, but withheld complete enthusiasm until we’d met Adrienne and determined that yes, she was absolutely good enough for our dear friend. It’s been a joy to watch these two lovebirds fall head over heels for each other and we were so happy to be a part of their incredibly special day.

And P.S.: my man cleans up real nice, doesn’t he?!

After the ceremony, we all headed over to Golden Gardens for the reception – the sun was shining and the water was sparkling as God looked down from heaven and smiled on the brand-new husband and wife.

It felt good to look around the hall and see our Seattle “family” gathered around, knowing that we’ll all watch Jon and Adrienne grow old together. Even little Miss Stella showed up for the big event – one week old and she’s already a party-goer!

We ate, we drank, we raised our glasses to the happy couple, and then we danced. Oh Lordy, how we danced…

It was a perfect night in so many ways. Cheers, Brenners! We love you both. And you throw one hell of a party.

I feel like I could have slept until noon today, but instead I was up early to cheer on Shane, Jack, Jason and Joe in the Mercer Island half-marathon. It was a beautiful day for a run, evidenced by the smiles on these guys’ faces as they lined up at the start to tackle the 13-mile course.

I was perfectly content to sit at a table in Starbucks with Nancy and La Verne while our athletes ran their butts off. We drank our lattes and then walked over to the finish line to watch everyone cruise in.

The gentlemen absolutely rocked it. And they hardly looked worse for the wear – nice work, fellas!

The rest of the day ranked a little low on the fun-o-meter, but pretty high on the productive-meter, so I’m still a happy camper. I made my plumbing debut and fixed our leaky toilet, did some paint touch-ups around the house, finished operation “spotless shower”, squeezed in a little yoga, and…am ready for bed. ‘Night.

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.

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.

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)

I’ve mentioned before, I’m big on traditions. Real big. And one of my most favorite traditions is our annual visit to the Christmas tree farm in North Bend. This is the first Christmas that we’ll actually spend at home in Seattle, so I’ve really been looking forward to making our house all Christmas-y, with a tree and sparkly lights and stockings and all that goodness. Project “holiday decor” kicked off this morning as we headed east to find the perfect pine; Jack and La Verne were also in the market for a tree today and joined us on our hunt. It was chilly out there, but dry and with small patches of blue sky over beautiful Mount Si. I’m in the middle of The Hobbit right now, and felt very Bilbo-ish as we meandered among the trees, with “Lonely Mountain” hovering above us. We wandered for awhile before settling on a full, round 7-foot Grand Fir. Jack and La Verne one-upped us with an 8-footer (plus some), and this was after we talked Jack down from the 9 and 10-foot trees he initially had his eye on (I had visions of a tree with it’s top branches bent over at their ceiling, but La Verne’s voice of reason eventually won out).

Our mighty lumberjacks chopped down the trees and we headed to the entrance to get them baled and sip our cider. See that little Honda Civic in the background with the tree perched precariously on its roof? Yeah, that’s us, and it was a slow drive home…

And now here I sit by the light of the tree, glass of egg nog in hand and Sufjan’s Christmas album playing on the stereo, and I am so full of thanks – for good friends, for our cozy home, for the Northwest’s natural beauty, and most of all, for the true reason behind this Advent season. God is good.

All our friends here love to throw a good party.  Preferably with cocktails.  And good food.  And a theme.  So when we started talking about how to wish Jordan and Belinda a bon voyage as they begin their year abroad, it wasn’t entirely surprising that what began as a nice little farewell get-together turned into a Mad Men-themed murder mystery cocktail dinner party.  We all dressed in our finest 60’s get-up and gathered at Emily and Daniel’s last night for an evening of eating, drinking, and intrigue.  We were each given character descriptions and clues when we walked in the door, and spent the much of the night trying to figure out who-dunnit.  Was it a crime of passion, carried out by reckless James Bean?  Or was the insanely jealous Angel Pier hiding a knife in her purse?

Lava Gardner and Franklin Vinatra were far too classy to arouse even the slightest suspicion…

But maybe it had something to do with Gene Martin’s shady mob connections?

And what was up with Grant Cary and Lauren Sophia sneaking upstairs when no one was looking?  My lips are sealed (although don’t let Jordan’s aka Marlo Brandon’s kind eyes fool you for a second…).

Once the mystery was solved, we were free to transition back into our naturally nutty selves.  The rest of the night was spent eating, drinking, laughing, and toasting to Jordan and Bees, whose absence from the gang will be strongly felt as they’re off romping though Europe and Asia.

It was certainly a night to remember.  I won’t deny that we’re kind of an odd bunch, but damn, we know how to throw a party.

(photo by Daniel)