little black journal

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.

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.

There’s a part of me that wants to dislike Valentine’s Day – I know it’s become a “Hallmark Holiday”, full of commercialism and consumption and cheeseball sayings on little candy hearts.  But here’s the problem when it comes to me hatin’ on V-day:  I’m married to a man that decided to surprise me with a decadent French dinner at Chloe tonight and hold my hands across the table and be all romantic and stuff.  And really, who am I to turn down champagne and mussels and sorbet-topped meringue?  So I’m putting aside any bah-humbug feelings and embracing the mushy-lovey-dippy-doo.  Happy Valentine’s Day, Mr. Schnell.  It was fun to get out on the town and be all fancy-pants with you (and it’s also fun to sit here in our PJs and catch up on the Daily Show).  I heart you mucho.

Seattle was abuzz on Tuesday with the forecast for a major dumpage of fresh snow – this city goes a little nuts when the weatherman deviates from the normal forecast of gray skies and rain.  At the first sign of a snowflake, transit becomes unreliable, many businesses close their doors, and Facebook is flooded with excited talk of “Snow-mageddon” and “Snow-pocolypse”.  Lots of Seattle-ites love to scoff at all the over-reactors while secretly stocking up on water and foil-faced blankets, but it’s true that we’re just not equipped to efficiently clear roads and create safe driving conditions, especially with the number of hilly streets that criss-cross every neighborhood.  Shane and I went to bed with clear skies overhead on Tuesday night, wondering what kind of mess we’d awake to on Wednesday.

Although the city wasn’t quite the disaster zone people had predicted, there were a couple of inches of snow on the ground by 8 am.  We were both tempted to call it a snow day and hunker down indoors, but Shane’s manager had said it was absolutely essential that he make it into the office, and I wasn’t too keen on using a vacation day to hang out at home by myself, so we boarded the ever-reliable Link Lightrail, simultaneously relieved and annoyed that getting to work wouldn’t be an issue for either one of us.

Downtown was quieter than I’ve ever seen it, with hardly any cars in sight.  The snow-laden trees and balconies gave a new vibe to the same streets I’ve walked down every day for the past several years – it was kinda magical…

I headed home a little early, instituting “snow hours” for myself at work, and settled into the couch with a hot cup of tea and a good chick flick.  Shane got home a couple hours later, and although it was dark by then, we were still eager to get out and enjoy our little winter wonderland.  We took a walk through the neighborhood, tossed a couple of snowballs at each other, and remarked over the glow of the sky and the quiet of the streets.

We were about to head inside when Shane eyed the big hill across the street from us with a mischievous grin on his face – 15 minutes later, he and our neighbor Justin were strapped into their snowboards, cruising down the road, whooping like little boys.  Justin termed it “urban snowboarding” – I like it.

Today brought more snow and icy roads.  Shane worked from home and I went into the office for a few hours, again leaving early when the City of Seattle put out a statement that commuters should try to get home before dark because of “treacherous” road conditions (“snow hours”!).  I rounded the corner when I got home to find Shane and Justin fort-building with the kids from sheets of ice that could be picked off cars – they had the start of a pretty good igloo going.

I know it’s Frugal January, and I know we said we wouldn’t eat out this month, but something about a snow day makes you feel like breaking the rules, so we asked Jack and La Verne (fellow frugal-ites) if they’d be up for making the trek over to Tutta Bella for a pizza dinner.  They agreed with minimal (errrr…no) arm-twisting, so Shane and I bundled up and walked down to Rainier Avenue to meet up with them.

And, wow, it was worth it.  We justified the evening by ordering off the happy hour menu (these pizzas are not quite so giant as they look) and reveling in just how good it felt to be “out”.  Turns out that a Tutta Bella dinner is a sure-fire cure for cabin fever!

It’s another cold night out there, and we continue to be so thankful for our warm home and steady supply of hot chocolate and fresh-baked muffins.  Tomorrow things should start getting back to normal, with warmer temperatures in the forecast.  I’ll be kind of sad to see this crazy weather come to an end – the playful afternoons and cozy evenings have added some variety to the seemingly loooooong Seattle winters.  Now if only I could afford to take up “rain hours”, life would be so much sweeter…

I really, really love Fall.  The anticipation of the soon-to-arrive holidays, steaming hot bowls of homemade soup for dinner, evenings spent cozied up on the couch with a cup of tea and a good book or a new episode of Parenthood, and the leaves…O.M.G., the leaves.  Shane and I took a walk through Washington Park Arboretum yesterday and were blown away by the intense hues of golden yellow, bright coral, deep red, and translucent green.  I bet I say this every year, but dang, these trees are more stunning than I’ve ever seen them before.

I remember sitting around a table with a group of friends from church during the holiday season several years ago, and as we took turns sharing about things that made us particularly thankful, one of the ladies at the table quickly piped up and said, ‘Color.  God is so incredible for giving us color.’

Amen, sister.

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?

Another blessed weekend of truly ‘weekending’ – lazy mornings in bed, afternoons spent reading on the back patio, leisurely dinners with good friends… I feel like I’ve rediscovered the beauty of relaxation, and it. is. goooooood. It must be the weather that’s put me on such a high; after we each finished our morning run over to Lake Washington, Shane and I spent yesterday afternoon laying on a blanket in the sand at Ed Munro Seahurst Park, dragging ourselves up out of our sun-soaked sprawl only when we got so hot that we needed to go dip our feet in the frigid waters of the Puget Sound, and by the time we left, I was giddy. It just feels like such a treat to enjoy the outdoors without even having to do anything – I’m used to oooh-ing and aaaah-ing over the beauty of Mount Rainer, or being wowed by the lushness of a forest hike, but to feel totally in love with the Northwest without even having to stand up, or even open my eyes? That’s pretty rare. The special-ness of days like yesterday is not lost on me.

That said, we awoke this morning to cloudy skies and a misty drizzle, but I didn’t even mind – I suppose I was still riding my sunshine high from Saturday and was totally content to come home from church and enjoy curling up on the couch with my book and a cup of tea. And the weather gods rewarded my good nature with a late-afternoon bout of sunshine, so I was able to peel myself off the couch and plop down on our patio to catch a few more weekend rays. I’ve always prided myself on being one of those Seattle-ites that endures the clouds and the rain with minimal complaining, as I’m usually happy to retreat to a cafe or the sofa when the weather isn’t conducive to being outside. But I’m seeing the brighter side of life, and hot damn, it is bliss.

After our low-key but just-right 2010 Valentines Day, spent eating cereal for dinner while watching Project Runway episodes, Shane decided to put aside our home-body-ish, old couple-ish tendencies and make reservations for us at a cozy little Seattle bistrot.  Cafe Campagne is our little slice of Paris in the Pacific Northwest, and though it lacks French-speaking waiters and a view of the Seine, it still ranks pretty high on the romance-o-meter.  We were seated at a little candle-lit table at the back of the restaurant, handed a wine list and a menu, and the rest is a euphoric blur of rich foods, bubbly champagne, and great conversation.  There was escargot, there was Chevre-topped salad, coq au vin, creme brulee, espresso, oh. mon. Dieu.  And there was talking, about travel and friends and the prospects for the 2011 Giants.  It was perfection.  So, Happy Valentine’s Day, Mr. Schnell.  Je t’aime de tout mon couer.

I have come to believe that three-day weekends should be the new standard (as opposed to the one-day weekends I’ve been having for the past month or so).  And so I took today off as a post-deadline stress-detox kind of day, to get some rest and catch up on a few to-do’s.  And it was lovely.  I started the day off with a solid workout, came home just in time for an appointment to have our windows measured for blinds (part of our dining room makeover), got our dinner into the crock pot, cleaned up the house a bit, made myself a yummy-but-healthy lunch, and then had every intention to continue my productive streak by painting the dining room and attacking the mound of laundry that has begun to crawl out of our closet.  But then I sat down on the couch, and sitting turned into laying, and laying turned into napping, and I figured I’d had just about enough ‘to-do’-ing for one day.  There’s no shame in some hard-earned relaxation.  I rolled off the couch mid-afternoon and realized I still hadn’t had my celebratory day-off latte, so I got in the car and made the trek up to Queen Anne to check out Le Reve – a French bakery that I’ve heard some buzz about and wanted to check out.  I can’t give this place a solid two thumbs up, since I’m not a fan of their ‘no laptop’ policy, and my eclair was served more chilled than I like it, but nonetheless, with my book, my coffee, and the knowledge that on any other typical Friday afternoon I’d be plugging away at the office, I couldn’t complain.

Ten minutes after getting back to the house, Shane called me from his way home and asked if I wanted to meet him for a drink at St. Dames – a neighborhood joint that recently opened and shows definite promise as our personal ‘Cheers’.  I have already taken a liking to both their head server/owner and their Happy Hour Cabernet, and it’s exciting to have a cozy joint like this one just two blocks away from our house.

We ended the day with a rousing game of Settlers with Jason and Nance.  Once I was able to tame my losing-and-bitter-about-it attitude, the night ended up being lots of fun, with plenty of laughs and homemade cake and the joy of just chillin’ out with good friends on a Friday night.

It was a great day.  And the best part?  The weekend has just begun…