Rod and Gun.

Just came across a little spot mentioned in the NYTimes that seems like a cool place, but also a great concept. Brooklyn Rod and Gun, as stated in the article, is a social club on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, and was started by a handful of fathers as a place to play music and talk about their outdoor adventures.


Um, sounds awesome.

At its root, Brooklyn Rod and Gun is a place to hang out and meet lovers of the outdoors. There are fly-tying tutorials on Mondays.


Adventures make me happy in life, so a place that is dedicated to the concept, discussion and promotion of adventure seems like somewhere I would like be! I hope you all are heading off on some adventure of your own this holiday weekend. We are driving south to sit in a canoe and camp with our friends near Mt Hood. Whooopie!

Here's the full slideshow:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/06/26/nyregion/20110626JOINTss.html

Stolen.

I stole this post from Cup of Jo, but I just had to get on board with her movie recos. I LOVE these kinds of movies! They remind me of other gems such as: 500 Days of Summer and Away We Go (if you haven't seen it, please run to the video store). Good. Stuff.

My Idiot Brother:


50/50:

Damn cute.

Could she look any more effortlessly cute!? Hair all balled up. Shirt "just" tied in a knot.
Love. It.

Note to self when packing for Greece...

Proud.

My future hubs was off on a mountain adventure last weekend as the culmination to his Bushwacker's Mountaineering class that he was taking all spring. They were attempting to summit Mt Baker as well as learn some crevasse rescue techniques and he and his fellow classmates totally rocked it. I was so happy for him as you never know what the weather is going to do here in the Pacific Northwest and it would have been a big disappointment to get up there and not be able to summit (I know from our first Mt. Adams attempt).

In any case, he did it! And I'm super proud of him. So I'm bragging about it here. Check out some photos!








Plus, look how cute he is with a sunburn? Hello!

Weeeeeeeeeee!

Claude and I signed up for a trapeze lesson through a groupon offer a few months back. We cashed in on it last Thursday and I had no idea what was in store for us. I'm sort of glad, because otherwise it might have been impossible to get me to go!

Trapeze!
I must say it exhilarating, terrifying, stressful, exciting and empowering all wrapped in a nice little package.

They start you off with a nice, simple jump and swing. The entire time - from ladder climb until the moment I jumped - I was nothing short of freaking out.

Then before you can try and decide if you can do THAT again they don't waste any time and move on to the next thing, which for us meant putting our legs up on the bar and doing a back-flip dismount.

Here are two videos, the first one is jump #5 which is basically preparation for jump #6...which, is a catch! Weeeeeeeeeeeee!

New Yak City.

I was witness to a shop in Yakima by the title: New Yak City. One of the many pun-heavy signs in a city of drastic dichotomy: folks in giant trucks blaring country music contrasted by the stunning natural backdrop of mountains and orchards and people flocking to wine taste in the rolling vineyards in the area.

I'll just say it, we made Yakima our bitch last weekend. As Tyson was hot to summit Mt Baker I made plans to get out of town to meet some girlfriends. And since the weather in Seattle was going to resemble that of November we headed east over the mountains to chase the sunshine.


With no real concrete plan I met up with Lindsay just outside of Yakima at an RV park around 9pm. We should have known what we were in for but since the camping isn't great in that area we had to sort of make due with what we found: A tee-pee! The RV park wasn't my favorite place to call home (sorry Mom and Dad!) and since we were on the reservation we were technically not supposed to drink, but we built a small fire and poured ourselves a glass of wine, and we had a great night!

On Saturday we met up with Erin at a little brunch spot and tried to make a plan for our day. Biking? Wine? We had booked a room at bed and breakfast at the very last second and figured we should check in, drop our stuff and just go from there.

When rolled up to the mansion, it was evident that we'd upped the ante significantly from our previous night in the RV park. The B&B was spectacular! Clearly the website did not do it justice!

And since the owner wasn't home she just let us in via the door code and told us to look around, so naturally we toured every room.


From there we decided to drop the Sideways vision of biking our way through wineries and opted instead to drive twenty minutes to the Zillah region, as most of the wineries are pretty spread out.


Did I mention that it was 55 and rainy and terrible in Seattle, and the while it was 80s and sunny gorgeous in Yakima.

After five wineries and nearly two cases of purchased wine found its way to the back of our car, we pretty much decided we had the best day ever.

I'll also note here that I've made an official decision that I need to own and operate a winery for the second half of my life = starting at 55-ish. Please hold me to this declaration, as it is a need-based dream.

Sunday we lathered up the sunscreen and soaked in another 80+ degree day in the sun scooting around on our bikes. We road a 20-mile loop through stunning landscapes and zipped past orchards and wineries. It was bliss.


For three gals who did not have their shit together even on the preceding Thursday, I must say we pulled off a pretty spectacular weekend. That makes two girl's weekends in a row that have totally rocked my world. And after last summer where I felt like I didn't really do a whole lot, summer 2011 is starting out pretty stellar.

Orange Jello-shots.

So my bachelorette party was the weekend before last in Minnesota, and though I knew it was going to be great, I had no idea it would facilitate an evening of total dreamy awesomeness.

All of the details - from the drive up north catching up in the car, to the late night chatter, to watching my Mama laugh with my girlfriends - were so special, and I would catch myself from time to time just being present in the moment and realizing what a one-of-a-kind weekend this was!

We set off for the cabin early Friday afternoon and arrived just before dinner time, meaning, just in time for a Happy Hour of cocktails and margaritas! Friday night turned out to be all of the CSB gals and my friend, Ann, who of course fit right in and everyone adored her. And even though Friday night was pretty relaxing and raucous-free, I must say I had an absolutely perfect evening of good friends and good conversation.

Saturday we were up and sipping coffee pretty early. I was nervous as weather predictions had been changing by the minute, and the plan was to hit the lake and spend the day on the party pontoon!

But by the time we had the coolers loaded and our feet hit the boat the sun was shining. We sipped bloody mary's and listened to music and cruised the lake.

There is something so totally MN-special about being on "the lake", and I just treasure it so much. I was so happy to be there!

Then my mama called and she and Jora had arrived so we scooped them up at the dock. After another loop or so around the lake we went back and scooped up Jamie, my brother's new fiance! The whole group got along famously! By the time we headed back to the cabin it was nearly 5pm and I remember thinking, "If my bachelorette party was over right now, I'd be totally happy." But yeah, it wasn't.

Soon the energy shifted and we were all showering and donning party clothes for our night out! We sat around the table and ate dinner together and before we knew it Clyde of Clyde's Rides phoned and was waiting in the drive-way to pick us up! Turns out, even though he is retired and has stark white hair, Clyde is not afraid to blair hip hop and endorse a tupperware of orange Jell-O shots to make the rounds in the back of his van.

The plan: two Townie bars and then on to the pinnacle that is Moon Light Bay. The first bar was great and we sat outside sipping cocktails until a lovely (sober*) woman popped by to chat and give us life and marriage advice. Sue was in her fifties and definitely had an opinion. By the end of that bar I remember two things: 1) her breasts, because she showed them to us, and 2) that the key to a good marriage is "communication and sex". Thank you, Sober Sue.

* Sue was not sober, though she claimed she was.

By the time we made it to Moon Light Bay the energy was this perfect. Stars aligned. I have to say it, they totally did. We hit that dance floor around 11pm and outside of very few bathroom breaks and the occasional trip to the bar, we danced for hours until 2am.

It was Dance Like No One's Watching kinda dancing. It was Dance Like Its Your Last Night On Earth kinda dancing.

It was so, so fun. I looked around that dance floor a few times and remember thinking about how lucky I am to have such amazing friends.

And I must say that my Mama had a rockin' time! I was so glad that both she and Jamie were able to come. Part of the reason I loved my bachelorette party was that the energy in the group was fantastic! Even though folks didn't all know each other it seemed like people took the time to chat and get to know each other, and it meant the world to me.

To all of the women who made my MN bachelorette party awesome! I can't wait to see you all again on our big wedding day!

Home.

So yeah, I feel bashful in writing because frankly I haven't written in so long I feel like I am no longer skilled in conveying emotion or capturing experiences. This is so frustrating! The constant flow of wedding tasks and details is what takes the extra space in my brain that used to be allocated to creativity.

With that said, I did just experience one of the best weekends of my entire life. I returned from Minnesota just after midnight on Sunday, which made it Monday, I guess. A trip mostly planned for the purpose of celebrating my bachelorette party, but also to see my family and experience the sun and warmth that is Minnesota during the summertime.

Per usual, I planned every single second of the trip as to maximize social interaction with those of which I do not see very often. Starting with a 10:30pm airport pick-up on Wednesday night courtesy of my friend Ann V and my other girlfriend, Doreen -who also happened to be in MN for her bachelorette party. We scooted over to our pal Tim's house and spent several hours gabbing into the wee hours. I am always amazed at the level of ease at how the four of us just slip right back into chatting like no time has passed. Literally it would be like we had breakfast the day before.

Thursday morning I was up early eager to see my Grandma Peg! Of course we had just the best time ever chatting and munching and sipping coffee for the entire morning. She is the best, that Gma P. Crow picked me up en route to the next engagement and we headed to the Minneapolis Peace Gardens to have a light picnic lunch with girlfriends and their adorable offspring!

It was lovely to see Emily - a college friend who I have not seen since the day we graduated - and hug her and just say hello like it was easy peasy.



Then I headed west towards my family! I popped by Trader Joe's to meet my Mama and we headed straight to a pedicure establishment. By the time I saw my Papa he was chuckling to himself at my CRAZY schedule dreams. Thursday proved to be family awesomeness as I was invited to play sand volleyball on my brother + wife's weekly bar league.

Because I love volleyball and because I become ugly competitive in these sort of matters, I was totally psyched. My family nested in at the bar to enjoy dinner and Jora and her new HUBBY joined us! We sipped Coors Light and tried our luck at pull tabs. And if you don't know what pull tabs are well then I'm sorry, go to the mid-west.


In the end, I think we won $400 or something - an outcome that is not common for all you teetering-on-the-fence gamblers out there. But yeah, it was great! The family just chatted and ate and sipped and won money. Good times. Then our 9:45pm game rolled around and sure enough I wanted to kill everyone on the other side of the net. The game was a nail-biter and came literally down to the last point. So fun! We lost. Not so fun.

Can I just say, all of the above ALL BEFORE my big bachelorette weekend!? So great! Ok, phew. I'll save the girly details for my next post, but first let me leave you with a pic of my friend Kesney's little man, Cormac, who is "driving" his new Beamer. That little guy is going to break some hearts!

Life is great. Busy, but great.