little black journal

I am often on the look-out for a reason to gather our friends for a little par-tay, and when I realized that my birthday, Shane’s birthday, and our good friend La Verne’s birthday all fell within just a couple of weeks of each other, the scheming began.  Shane and I were into the idea of a little celebratory getaway with the gang, and when we casually mentioned the idea to Jack and La V, they nodded their heads, their eyes got bright, and I knew:  this would be good.  Very good.

We all started scouring the internet for ideal party-house rentals, and Jack stumbled upon a sweeeeet water-front home on Whidbey Island with ample room for all of us.  Thus, Schnell-La-Palooza was officially booked!  And after much anticipation, we all boarded the ferry on Friday afternoon, ready for a weekend of eating, game-playing, hot-tubbing, and generally livin’ it up.  I will admit, I feared that the house might not live up to our high expectations, but I was wrong to worry – nestled into the woods, perched just above what felt like a private stretch of beach, it was perfect.

The entire weekend was fabulously chill, as we strolled on the beach, soaked in the hot tub, and got some serious mileage out of La Verne’s new X-Box Kinect (imagine Dance Dance Revolution meets Nintendo Wii, then triple the awesome-ness).  There were times when I enjoyed the quiet of curling up in the sun-room and reading Harry Potter, and there were times when all 14 of us sat around the dining room table together and laughed hysterically.  It felt very much like being on a family vacation – we were all free to do our own thing (a tree pose on the beach, in Shane’s instance), but at the end of the day, we all really wanted to share a meal together and just enjoy each other’s company.

Shane, Jordan, and Bees did a little beach-combing, and came back to the house with a dead jellyfish and a piece of driftwood shaped like a Moses staff.  One ocean’s trash is another man’s treasure, I guess…

The hot tub was a favorite hang-out for a few of us.  102-degree water with a view of the ocean and a beer in hand – life does not get much better…

I think La Verne took the X-box prize as dancer with the most style.  Jason took the prize for ‘most animated’.

When Jack mentioned that he had something special in mind for our birthday dinner, he wasn’t joking – hand-made pasta, topped with a perfect ragu (imagine little strands of heaven wrapped around a fork…).

After our perfect meal on Saturday night, we sat at the table for another couple of hours, playing a rousing game of True Colors, where we pinned people with title’s such as ‘best character for a scorchy romance novel’.  It’s been awhile since I’ve laughed so hard for so long.

We awoke to rainy skies on Sunday morning, which I suppose was appropriate, as I was seriously bummed to be packing up our things and bidding farewell to our cabin in the woods.  **Sigh.**

And so…Schnell-La-Palooza (dare I call it the first annual???) came to a close…  As if the weather gods knew I needed cheering up, the clouds parted as we crossed Deception Pass, giving us one final, beautiful view of the island.

Shane and I just returned from a weekend with my parents at their home in Central Oregon, enjoying a perfect dose of relaxation.  Mornings spent sleeping in, afternoons spent enjoying the great outdoors, and evenings spent cozying up by the fire in the living room and watching baseball on TV.  Lovely.  Some highlights:

After doing a little shopping and eating lunch in Bend on Friday, we headed over to Tumalo Falls to take a stroll and enjoy the scenery.  The waterfall was beautiful, as were the glowing-gold aspens set against full, bushy evergreens.  Shane skipped stones in the river, I found a perfectly seat-shaped rock to perch on and soak in the sun, and we all thought to ourselves how there’s nothing like a sunny, crisp Fall day in the Pacific Northwest.

Saturday we pointed the car south toward Crater Lake, in hopes of deepening our love affair with beautiful Central Oregon.  Success!  We ate lunch at the lodge (French onion soup in a cozy, log-walled lodge on a cool Autumn day = mmmmm…), then slowly wound our way back around the lake, stopping every few minutes to absorb the breath-taking view, snap some pictures, and marvel at how the color of the lake seemed to change with each viewpoint we stumbled upon.  I found it impossible to capture the magnificence of this collapsed-volcano-turned-lake in a single photo, so you’ll have to settle for these snippets of greatness.  Really, though, it was stunning…

(this photo courtesy of Shane’s iPhone handiwork) :

We spent Saturday evening at the house, watching the Giants crush (ok, barely squeak by) the Phillies in game one of the League Championship.  Bam!!!  Shane was so jazzed after their win that he challenged my dad to a 5-game ping-pong dual, which proved to be quite the aerobic workout for the both of them.  It was a battle to the end, but eventually they both emerged from the game room, sweaty and out of breath, my dad grinning and Shane hanging his head low (ok, it wasn’t quite that dramatic, but still, it was rather intense for a ping-pong game)…

I also spent much of the weekend cuddling with my parents’ lovable Mini Australian Shepherd, Bernie.  He is a total sweetheart of a dog, and if not for our busy work schedules and Shane’s unfortunate dog allergy, I would be scouring the internet now for a puppy to call our own.

And now, we’re home – bags unpacked, laundry in the washer, and preparations for another typical week underway.  The weekend was so very, very good while it lasted…

When Shane told me last Spring that he wanted to buy a subscription to MLB-TV, so that he’d be able to watch all of the Giants games from the comfort of our living room, I cringed a little bit.  I imagined the countless Sunday afternoons we’d have to spend parked in front of the TV, rather than getting outside to enjoy the summer weather; the evenings that I would have to escape upstairs to get away from Shane’s post-loss funk; the fabulous pair of shoes that money could buy me…  But much to my surprise, the more I saw of the Giants, the more I fell into fan-dom.  I’ve always liked baseball, and if I’d ever had to choose a favorite team, the Giants would have been it, but it wasn’t until this year that I truly got behind them.  I learned all the players names and knew their trademark accessories and rituals; I cheered for Buster when he made his stunning debut and shouted at Sandoval throughout his steady decline; I found myself putting the game on even when Shane wasn’t around, checking standings on my iPhone and daily wishing defeat upon the Padres.  I was hooked.  And so I was stoked when the Giants made it to play-offs – what a year to become a fan!  We haven’t been able to watch the last few games at home, since we cancelled our cable, but have found an awesome little sports bar called Auto Battery in Capitol Hill where we can spend our evenings cheering on our team.  It’s been a lot of fun – Jack and La V have joined us there as fellow Orange-and-Black fans, and we’ve found instant camaraderie with the handful of other Giants supporters that frequent the bar.  Tonight was a big night – we all jumped to our feet, cheering and shouting and clinking our beers as we secured our place in the National League Championship Series.  Woot!!!

I’ll leave you with this video, currently making the rounds on YouTube – Let’s go Giants (clap-clap, clap-clap-clap!)…

I graduated from high school with Amanda, Josh, and Kelly way back when, and was thrilled when Amanda called me last month to tell me they were coming to visit.  It had been far too long since we’d seen each other, and I’ve been looking forward to the chance to catch up and be silly with some of my oldest, dearest friends.  And so Shane and I have spent the past couple of days playing host, eating and drinking and playing and laughing.

We kicked off Friday with breakfast at Both Ways Cafe, near Seward Park.  This has become one of my favorite breakfast places in Seattle, for the warm, cozy setting just as much as the food.  We sipped our lattes and spread jam on our perfect buttermilk biscuits, thrilled with the promise of a sunny Seattle day.  Then we watched the sun disappear behind a pile of gray clouds.  Go figure.

But we weren’t going to let gray skies keep us down.  After breakfast, we headed to UW to rent a couple of canoes and spend some time paddling around Lake Washington.  We wound our way through the arboretum, rowing our way through patches of lily-pads, under canopies of leafy green trees.  And this is why I love Seattle…

Friday night, after a quick happy hour downtown, we walked over to Safeco Field to take in the Mariners vs. A’s game.  Amanda and Josh are huge Oakland A’s fans (I don’t hold it against them), so they were stoked to watch their team cream Seattle.  It was a fun night – not much of a game, but still, the garlic fries were good, the weather was perfect, and really, there’s nothing like a lively rendition of ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ with friends during the 7th inning stretch.

Saturday morning we pointed our car east toward Yakima.  Amanda’s grandpa lives there, so we dropped her and Josh off for a visit with him, while Shane, Kelly, and I headed over to Red Mountain to do a little wine-tasting.  We started at Tapteil Vineyards, and picnicked on the patio while enjoying a couple of their Cabernets.  We then headed to Fidelitas, a cool little winery with modern interiors and an extensive tasting list, the highlight of which was their Merlot.  Our last stop in Benton City was Cooper’s Vineyard, a brand-new winery that seems to be getting a lot of positive buzz.  This was by far our favorite stop of the day – the wines were fantastic, and the time we spent chatting with the winemaker made every sip even tastier.  His genuine enthusiasm about sharing the fruits of his labor with us was infectious – I’ve never been so engaged in the act of wine-drinking.  On our way back to Yakima, we stopped in Zillah for one last tasting, and then…we…were…done…

After a long day of driving, nothing sounded better than a round of pizzas from Tutta Bella and a couple of scoops of ice cream from Full Tilt. As if our breakfast pastries from Columbia City bakery and our cheese-and-salame picnic lunch wasn’t indulgence enough…

We bid farewell to our visitors this morning, sad to see them go, but thankful for a weekend full of fabulous memories.

Yes, it got even better:  An incredible blue-skied hike out to Loookout Point, followed by a suddenly misty trek back to the car; quality beach time, with sand between my toes and ocean-soaked pant cuffs; lazy mornings spent drinking coffee and playing with Elise…  This weekend ended far too soon…

Our weekend at the coast was, in a word, perfection.  Leisurely walks on the beach, evenings spent lounging around the house with my family, falling asleep to the lull of the ocean and waking to the sound of Elise’s chatter downstairs…  I had forgotten how beautiful the Oregon Coast is, and savored every sandy moment spent there with my family, from my morning jog to our sunset stroll.

Elise is quickly moving from baby-hood to little girl-hood, but maintaining all of adorableness.  She is curious, funny, affectionate, and has us all wrapped around her cute little finger.  She is also totally smitten with her Uncle Shane, and spent much of the weekend nestled into his lap.  Whenever any one of us asked if we could help her with something (“Elise, can I read you a book?”, “Can I brush your hair?”, “Can I change your diaper?”), her immediate response was, “I want Uncle Shane to do it!”  And thus, we all got to see a side of Shane we never knew existed – he’s actually a diaper-changing, hair-brushing, toddler-snuggling genius.

Some of my favorite weekend moments were spent just hanging around the house, eating, lounging, and laughing.  We took advantage of the fresh, local seafood offerings and pickup up a couple dozen oysters from Barnacle Bill’s for an appetizer on Friday night.  Mitch gave Shane his first-ever shucking lesson, and the two of them slurped their way through oyster after oyster.

After our dinner of fresh salmon and roasted veggies, my dad and I grabbed our cameras and headed across the street to the beach to catch the sunset.  The misty glow of the horizon and the interesting topography of the low-tide beach made for an incredible evening walk.  I could so get used to this…

Still sorting through the rest of the weekend’s photos – more picture-perfect memories to come…

I am writing this from the passenger seat of our trusty Civic (my first ever iPhone post!), as we are en route to the Oregon Coast for a few days with my family. I’m having one of those beginning-of-the-weekend, ‘life-is-good’ kind of moments: We are listening to the Giants crush the Cubs on radio, I have a stack of books at my feet and a bag full of snacks that I can’t wait to dig into, and I am so looking forward to some quality time with Elise (and my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and husband, of course). It just started raining outside and I’m seriously considering snuggling up under my fuzzy blanket, reclining my seat, and shedding this week’s hectic-ness with a little cat-nap. Shane won’t mind…

The past couple of days have been perfectly chill and weekend-ish.  Sad to see them come to an end…  We spent Friday night with a couple of neighbor/friends, eating peach pie, watching a movie, and getting caught up with each other’s goings-on.  As darkness comes earlier and earlier, I see lots of weekend movie nights in our future – this is a good thing.  I like a fancy night out on the town, but I love an evening spent lounging on the couch.

I was up early(ish) on Saturday to kick off the day with a run, and for the first time in awhile, I felt like I flew through my 3-mile loop, rather than trudging through it.  Shaved 20 seconds off my best time for that route (woot!).  I’m wondering if the aforementioned peach pie had anything to do with this sudden burst of energy?  I was so happy with my progress that I decided to counteract it with a trip out to Red Hook Brewery to meet up with Shane, Jack, and La V for lunchtime burgers.  Shane and Jack had taken advantage of the sunshine and made the 25-mile trip on their bikes (stopping only once on the way for a wine-tasting detour – I’m so proud of them…), but since I’m not really the cyclist-type, I was happy to hop in the car to meet up with them.  We scored a perfect table out on the patio, where I could soak in the surprisingly warm rays of September sun.

Saturday afternoon, I dropped Shane off at Lakewood so that he could play a round of disc golf with Jason and the G-man, then parked myself at nearby Dubsea Coffee for a latte and some ‘me-time’.  I was totally impressed with the quality of the cafe’s space – I think I’ve found a new way to occupy my time while Shane is tossing frisbees.  Lots of natural light, rotating art exhibits on the walls, and a ceiling painted the most perfect shade of turquoise.  I found a cozy little table by the window, pulled out my book, and was completely in my element.

Saturday evening I pleasantly surprised Shane by asking him if he wanted to head out for a late-night cocktail (something ‘out of the ordinary’ for us…).  We headed out to Tavern Law – a little bar in Capitol Hill that we’d heard has a cool speak-easy vibe and killer cocktails.  My gin/lime/cranberry/lavender/egg white concoction was delicious, and Shane’s gin/Lillet/apricot/Absinthe drink was right up his alley.

Today was spent mostly at home, watching the Giants beat the Padres (holla!), cleaning up the house, and doing a bit of yardwork.  I was happy to find that the plant I thought I’d killed during the mini heat-wave we had a few weeks ago is actually sprouting some new leaves. With a little more work and some TLC, I’m hopeful that we’ll have a lovely, flourishing backyard by the time next summer rolls around.

We’re wrapping up the evening with a bowl of ice cream and a crappy movie (anyone seen Date Night?).  All-in-all, a rather perfect couple of days.

When I first came to Seattle and started looking for a place to live, I began evaluating neighborhoods based on criteria like proximity to downtown, rent prices, sense of safety, etc, etc, etc…  But in the end, it all came down to the coolness factor, and Capitol Hill had me at hello.  I chose a small-but-comfortable studio apartment at the west edge of Capitol Hill, loving the fact that I could walk to work, walk to the grocery store, walk to any number of stellar cafes, walk to the bars, walk to the park, walk to my art classes at Seattle Central – I had just about anything I could possibly need right at my fingertips.  On average, I must have put about 15 miles a week on my car.  It was fabulous.  Plus, by living in such a hip, urban area, I was able to convince myself that I was actually cool by association (whether this is true or not is still TBD).  Once Shane moved to Seattle and we got married, there was never really any question that we would stay in the ‘hood, and we scored a perfect one-bedroom apartment in a lovely old brick building, just three blocks from where I had been living.  Life was good on Capitol Hill – we went out to dinner at Chez Gaudy or La Spiga on a moment’s notice, I spent my Saturday mornings Bauhaus Cafe, and on sunny afternoons, I would grab my book and head over to Cal Anderson Park to lay on the grass and watch neighborhood residents splash in the fountain.

Nearly a year after we’d settled into our apartment on Union Street, when we started looking to buy a place in Seattle, it was hard to make the decision to leave the Hill and transport all of our belongings four miles south to our spacious-but-not-nearly-as-hip townhome in Columbia City.  In the end, I really believe it was the right choice for us, as we have fallen in love with our home and our neighbors and our greater neighborhood, but still, I think I left just a small piece of my heart back in Capitol Hill.

Which is why, when I found myself with a wide-open afternoon yesterday, I decided there was nothing I would rather do than grab my camera and spend a couple of hours strolling down Pike and Pine, pretending once again that I was one of the cool folks that actually belonged there.  I had read a good review of Porchlight Coffee on 14th, so I started there, then proceeded to wander toward Broadway, detouring through Cal Anderson Park, then Value Village’s book aisles, and slowly making my way back east.  It’s a little disappointing to see several not-so-charming vanilla condo buildings popping up around the neighborhood, but the underlying fabric of old brick storefronts, poster-plastered telephone poles, and trendy coffee shops on every other corner still exists, and that makes me happy.

Cool/uncool, hip/unhip, young/old, etc, etc, I suppose Capitol Hill’s greatest charm is in its ability to draw me in and make me think there’s no where else I’d rather be sipping my latte.

The past few weeks have been busy – lots of long hours at work, miscellaneous events on the calendar, and nights spent falling asleep with my ‘to-do’ list flashing before my eyes.  Which is why I was indescribably thrilled to hop in the car after work on Friday and head toward the little lake-side house we had rented for the weekend with a couple of friends.  And I was overjoyed when we pulled into the driveway and found that ‘lake-side’ truly meant lake-side, with a back porch and hot tub that looked right onto Mission Lake, a little dock, complete with a canoe, a row-boat, and a paddle-boat, and a fire pit that screamed to me “Eat s’mores HERE!”  Within minutes of our arrival, I had slipped into the sweatpants that would become my weekend uniform, Shane and Jason had tossed dinner on the grill, we had cracked open a bottle of wine, and I was thinking, ‘Life is good’.  Once darkness fell, the gentlemen got the fire started and we dessert-ed on s’mores under the stars.  I fell into bed that night with a smile on my face, reveling in the feeling of all of my “to-do’s” being very far away.

Shane was up at dawn the next morning, eager to explore our new digs – he and Jason had already taken a spin around the lake in a canoe before I had even considered opening my eyes (which is why I must credit him with the photo below – the sun was much higher in the sky by the time I got out of bed).

Saturday was spent sitting on the dock with my book and my mug of peach tea, napping on the couch, paddling around in the canoe, soaking in the hot tub, rinse and repeat.  Everything a vacation should be.

Grilled kabobs for dinner, another bottle of wine, and the day came to a close with us sitting at the table, talking, drinking, laughing, eating… Over the past few months, Shane and I have spent countless evenings sitting around the dining room table or standing at the kitchen counter chatting with Jason and Nance about…life, I guess.  Our conversations flow so freely that it’s hard for me to pinpoint what exactly we talk about – I just know that at any moment I may be asked a soul-baring question, or I may be laughing out loud over Jason’s attempt to rap along with 2Pac.

Sunday was more of the same, which was perfectly ok with me.  I lounged, wandering from the couch to the dock and back again.  And Shane got to spend some more quality time with his best bud, G-man, which is always a good thing.

Sunday evening, we all piled into the rowboat for a cruise around the lake.  The tour-du-lac took a bit longer than expected, since Shane and Jason spent more time rowing us in circles than rowing us forward, but still, a good time was had by all, and our captains eventually navigated us safely back to the dock.

I put a lot of ‘effort’ this weekend into resting, while Shane and Jason chose to focus their energy on playing.  Seriously, these boys played hard this weekend.  Whether it was darting off to the frisbee golf course for a ‘quick’ round of 18 holes, mad-ballin’ at the hoop in the driveway, busting out the croquet set buried in the front closet, jumping in the lake (then the hot tub, then the lake, then the hot tub…), or trying out the assortment of boats at our disposal, it was so fun to just watch ‘boys be boys’.

Sunday evening meant another dinner fresh off the grill, more talking/drinking/laughing/eating, and one final soak in the hot tub.  It was hard knowing that we’d have to bid farewell to our little lakeside paradise the next morning…

And sure enough, despite my resistance, Monday morning rolled around we were off to catch an early ferry back to Seattle, so that I could get back to the office to work toward my Monday night deadline – the phrase ‘back to reality’ smacked me right in the face with a string of stressful meetings and a thirteen-hour work day.  Yuuuuuuuuuck.  But the peace and calm was certainly nice while it lasted, and the upcoming three-day weekend holds some definite relaxation potential.  Even if our own little backyard doesn’t have a view quite like this: