Yikes.

I realize maybe that my blog isn't the best place for political chatter. Considering, too, that I am becoming less and less political. However, I thought this video was both hilarious AND scary.

Weekend.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.
Tyson's sister, Tracy and her hubby, Scott hosted us along with their Mother and some friends from their church. Thanksgiving is not only a great time for reflection and thanks, but for eating! The Mikula's dominated the turkey, stuffing, gravy AND pumpkin cheesecake. Yum. Seconds. We played several games, all of which Scott won. I am bound and determined to beat him at Settlers of Catan at some point in my life. Life goals, people.


Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera in tow for our Friday snowboarding on Crystal Mountain. It can be hit or miss in terms of weather and sun on WA mountains. Friday was a blue bird day, and as a result Mt. Rainier was just stunning off in the distance as we road up the chairlift. I stole some photos from someone else online because it really is an incredible sight.

I road with Tyson, Buckley and Pete - three incredible boarders - and I was pretty intimidated. But I just tried to keep up and not make people wait. At the end of the day, the old adage rings true in that if you do anything with people who are better than you, you are bound to get better. I had the best day boarding I think I've ever had. It really was a great, great day. We also capped it off with a visit to a friends cabin on the mountain. It was another pang where I felt a strong need to save all my cash so that someday I may plop down on a couch in a cabin of my own.

One of Tyson and I's favorite things to do is consume brunch. Whether its going out to Coastal Kitchen, Portage Bay Cafe or making epic brunches at home. We woke on Saturday and made pumpkin pancakes, and an egg scramble with peppers, sausage and avocado, and sliced pears. YUM! So much yumminess this weekend! I really enjoy listening to This American Life while making breakfast, and if you're interested in a great TAL story, listen to this one!

Happy Thanks.

FOR
- A healthy and awesome family.
- Great friends.
- My health.
- An adventure ahead of me, and all that comes with it.
- Tyson.
- Pumpkin cheesecake.
- Beer. Goooood beer. Like Deschutes Black Butte Porter. Yum.
- Tyson's bread.
- Cheese. I love you, cheese.
- Visitors this year in the form of my parents, my mama, my Gma and my lovely girlies Haley and Kristi for their mucho supportive Marathon surprise trip.
- The physical and mental strength I was able to drum to achieve said marathon.
- The trees and beaches and mountains of WA.
- This American Life, with Ira Glass.
- Cooking with Tyson. Cooking or Baking. Anything that involves us chatting over a beer or a glass of wine whilst chopping, stirring, flirting and usually listening to something great on the radio or itunes. Seriously one of my top five favorite things to do in life is this.
- Coffee. I don't who to love more, coffee or beer.
- Cup of Jo blog. Fantastic.
- Vogue magazine.
- Laughing. I really, really love to laugh. And for funny people.
- NYTimes.com
- Running. Running rules!
- Biking. Biking rules!
- Happiness. Happiness Rules.
- My cell phone - the vehicle that connects me to my glorious buddies back in the great state of Minnie!
- Red Light vintage. The best store in all of Seattle.
- The ability to let go. Its really not easy for me. I make lists. I plan ahead. I dream. Dream BIG. And its been a learning experience to let go of all that is "expected" and to derail from the plan that has been my life. But in allowing myself to do so, I've created an opportunity to see a new direction my life could take. I have no idea what that direction is, and THAT is what is so exciting! Its wonderful. Its scary. But its pretty darn exhilarating!

Cheers to 2009. Its been, and will continue to be a great year. I have much to be thankful for and I'm sure this list could swell to so much more. Happy Thanksgiving.

Bend, OR.

A much anticipated, um, last weekend.

Sigh.
A weekend at a B&B with great friends. Cabin Creek B&B in Bend, OR to be specific.
Dinner + Bathrobes + slippers + hot tub + fireplaces in every room = Splendid.





A nice, little Saturday.
A game of football + horses + a tour of Deschutes Brewery + a dinner out + back to the B&B for some hilarious games = a moment of reflection and an intense feeling of gratitude for said experiences.

Tom and Meg UNITE!

There's nothing more fun than attending a wedding you know is going to be a blast, but also, for a couple you know are so great together. Tyson's brother Tom recently married his long-time (insert awesome) girlfriend, Meg, and we had been looking forward to the wedding for quite some time. We traveled to Milwaukee, WI on a Thursday and were whisked into a swirling mix of social fun upon arrival.

Tyson's other brother (he has a lot of them), Tim, owns a brewery in Sonoma, CA. Earlier this year Tyson, Tom and mama Kathy traveled across the country in a van transporting Tim's beer from CA to Milwaukee for the big event. Many things throughout the wedding weekend were surrounded by tipping more than one of those beers back and enjoying every sip.


The Beer!



Friday the ladies made their way to the nail salon for mani's and pedi's while the guys played some frisbee golf over a few brews. I definitely wasn't expecting to be a large part of the wedding party festivities, but really, Meg was so gracious in inviting me to everything! I was able to ride with the wedding party, sit at the head table and also stay in the bridal suite the night before the wedding. It was such a treat to get to know Meg even more, but also meet and spend time with her sisters. Great family!


On a whim, my parents who happened to be attending a wedding in Appleton, WI the following day, made the last-minute decision to come to Milwaukee for part of the rehearsal dinner. It was great to see them, and to introduce them to both the Goeppinger's and the Shelton's! We may have made a fatal mistake in not realizing how potent Tim's beer is though...

Brothers!

The bride and groom-to-be and Toby and Missy::::



As expected, the wedding and reception were a blast. Tyson's college friends, Dave and Jen, were also in attendance making all things on the dance floor glorious. Our standing joke with them is that we will eventually all live on a commune and share household responsibilities as well as closets.


There were several gong-show-esque moments including wedding guests singing the National Anthem and Tom and fellow University of Illinois friends and guests dancing in village people costumes whilst Tom bounced around doing the Chief Illini dance in full headress. Yep, it was that kinda wedding. Off the chain. Super fun. And I didn't want it to end.




Tyson was also the best man and had to give the speech! Those things are hard to do and if ever tasked with a Maid of Honor speech I'm really not sure how I'll step up to the challenge. He was great though, and I was so proud of him.

I guess when I think back and try to sum up the whole weekend its really hard to do. For a family that lives all across the country from each other I'm constantly amazed by their love and support for one another. And they really are fun. Tons of fun! I was sad to leave on Sunday not knowing when the whole gang will be back together again like that.

Cheers to Tom and Meg for a great wedding and for being a lovely couple. I wish you all the best in life!

hears to hoping.

Gosh I hope I'm as cute a mom as this, someday!

can you imagine?

So with all of this, "Where the hell am I going?" talk, I also tend to hypothesize about what my next career could be. I saw this on a blog I follow regularly and thought, my gosh, wouldn't this be a blast - ANIMAL PHOTOGRAPHY!





And honestly, please check out her blog - www.sharonmontrose.blogspot.com - for some really fun, adorable photos. Seriously, what a fun job!

temporary mental.

I must be clenching my jaw when I sleep these days, because my teeth hurt.

I attended a birthday party on Saturday night honoring my new-ish friend, Erin. Realizing I wouldn't know many, if any at all, of her friends, I'd preemptively decided I'd only pop in for a quick drink and well wishes. But as the bowling portion of the party started to wrap up, and people were making plans to navigate to the next destination of celebration, I found myself strangely curious and excited to see how the evening would play out. I happily headed over to Amanda's house (Amanda being a gal I knew really nothing about except that she's a med student interviewing for residence here in Seattle) and I plopped down into a seat that happened to be next to a couple from MN! She was a grad student and he was starting law school in the fall. We bantered about Minneapolis vs. St. Paul and gushed about our common love for the great state of MN. I also spoke to some other gals who were both in a graduate program at UW, a nice guy who had just finished a post-graduate program and on and on and on, only to return home at midnight, surprisingly, much later than the 8:30pm I'd planned/anticipated.

Despite spending a lovely evening with some really great people, I somehow managed to come home with a teeny feeling of despair that I was either too tired to identify or that hadn't fully taken over my brain before I went to bed. But when I awoke on Sunday there it was. Smacking me clear in the face was that horrible, much over-thought feeling we all know and love, "What the hell am I doing with my life? Where the hell is my life going, anyway?" And I think after being surrounded by so many people advancing themselves academically with their grad schools, law schools and med schools...my answer was something like, "Hm, let's just see. Well you know, I'm quitting everything and heading out to go work in a coffee shop for a few months and 'see what happens.'"

I realize the scenario to which I'm about to embark on can also be described using completely different language to say that in fact I'm quitting everything to move to New Zealand and head out on the adventure of a lifetime, one that I'll probably never, ever regret. But somehow, Saturday night and Sunday I wasn't feeling that way. Why is that we can be so capable of torturing ourselves?

Anyway, then cut to me sitting at the Wing Dome eating terrible food and drinking cheap beer on Sunday afternoon. With all due respect to those who love the Wing Dome, it was not really an accurate first impression due to the mental "crisis" I was having, nor was it my numero uno choice to spend a Sunday tetering on the edge of a meltdown. In fact, it was aiding in my mounting anxiety and already growing list of things I needed to get done in order to leave on said journey of quitting everything. And I'm sure if I were to find myself in a Wing Dome today my impression would be much more forgiving and open-minded. Sunday was not that day.

But today is a new day. Today I feel excited. A bit overwhelmed still, but excited. And again, its strange the tortures our mind can put us through. Comparing ourselves to others and wistfully wondering how different situations can play out. Ladies and gentleman, the tickets are booked. I'm going. And dammit, I might just have an anxiety attack along the way but I'm boarding the plane and maybe, someday, I'll know where my life is headed. Today I know it is taking me to New Zealand.

new.

As if Etsy wasn't addicting enough, introducing big cartel - or bigcartel.com. Bringing the art to the cart, big cartel describe themselves as, "a simple shopping cart for artists. It’s easy to use, customizable, and awesome."

One of the "shops" on the site is called plainMADE and they made wonderful, little gems.

Gbye.

I know, a little strange that we're all so dressed up to say 'Goodbye', but it just so happened that Lindsay's birthday fell on Halloween weekend, and Oh yeah they're leaving on a six-month roadtrip. Or rather, they've left now. And this post is a little late. More on that thought in a later post.

A small but quality group of us headed to Mt. Hood, Oregon to stay and imbibe in a cabin for an evening. Lets see, we had Amelia Earhart, a zookeeper, an 80's gym teacher, a one night stand (ha), an 80's aerobics instructor, and um, a gal in a wig and some character from a show I've never seen so I can't remember the name.





I'm super pumped for Linds and Matthew. Considering she and I had simultaneous meltdown-ish moments a few months back when the prospect of heading out of our comfy homes, jobs and lives seemed unthinkable, its wonderful we're both now simultaneously excited. And the prospect of NOT heading out into the world to seek our dreams seems unthinkable. I wish them well on their adventure - a roadtrip across the U.S. I'm sure there will be endless moments of laughter, beauty, chaos and probably some low-points, but they've already added a good story to their repertoire. See their travel blog, click here. Big love to you two! Can't wait to follow the journey.

living-in.

Tyson and I recently decided to move in together!

We decided to celebrate with a bottle of Prosecco and fresh cut strawberries with homemade whipped cream.



We're totally excited and geeky about it!