First Turns.

Considering the zillion calories consumed over the Thanksgiving holiday it was practically a must that we head straight to Mt. Baker for some first-time turns of the season. The day was so fab < sunny, powder-y and we had tons o'fun. Mt. Baker is such an amazing place because of the views of Mt. Shuksan in the distance. That and the fact its just a wee bit old school so if you're feeling cheap you can order a PBR on tap for $2.50. Or just order a delicious Boundary Bay Scotch Ale. For a few more dollars. Yum. 

Being outside is so awesome. I love it.

Hope your Thanksgivings were superb!

Danke.

Today I am thankful for:

+ My new husband! He is the best!
+ Our incredible whirlwind year, complete with our magical wedding day where I've never felt so much love in every direction as I did in those 12 hours AND our totally BOMB-tastic honeymoon in Greece and Italy.
+ My family << we've had a pretty big year with some health scares, two weddings - one resulting in a brand new sister-who-rules, a boy who now takes the bus, and we're all still plugging along. Livin'.
+ My Grandma, Peg! Of course! Would you expect that I could possibly forget my darling Gma? Nope.
+ Friends. So many friends who care so much and who bring joy to my soul. Really when I say Friends, I mean Family-from-anotha-motha. (Wow I've become odd today, aye?)
+ For sugar. I love you, sugar. You are delicious and make me happy every time I eat you. You and your buddy, Cheese.
+ All the things in my life that make me feel alive: running, laughing, writing, snowboarding, camping + campfires, cooking + eating, traveling, creating and doing all of the above with awesome people who rule.

Oh and for wine. Yum.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

The Holiday Season

Well, working for a retailer I've been feeling the holiday season looming for about six months now. And, its finally here! I am a cheesy lover of all things classic when it comes to holidays:
+ multiple holiday parties with both family and friends
+ going out and actually cutting down our Christmas tree
+ listening to holiday music - any good, new suggestions?
+ sipping spiced apple cider
+ swapping out my pillow cases for winter-themed ones made with fabric from Stitches
+ cookie baking/decorating parties whilst Love Actually and The Family Stone play in the background
+ eating
+ eating more

Imagine a cozy holiday gathering in these rooms. Fireplace, sipping wine, smells of delicious food coming from that kitchen. Good stuff!

I am in the market for some new traditions though. Any thoughts?

Power.

So, I'm taking a powertools class tonight at the West Seattle Tool Library. Yup. I like how its titled: PowerTools 101. Lose your fear, not your fingers. 
Love it.

The class is described as the following:  
Join instructor Amy Ecklund, as she welcomes you in to the basics of using small powertools such as circular saws, jigsaws, powerdrills, impact drivers, nail guns, and miter saws.  As part of the class, you’ll demonstrate what you’ve learned by building a take-home, cedar planter box.

My goal is to eventually build a table. And then maybe more tables if I enjoy the process. I'm sure its waaaaay harder than I think (things typically are as my brain tends to oversimplify things), but I'm gonna give it a go. I like wood and woodworking projects in general so it should be a good time.

Then the plan is to head over to ReStore - a local non-profit that sells used building materials - and find me some wood! ReStore is one of the most incredible gems on the planet. One can get lost in the endless drawers of random things and aisles of old wood, doors and windows. I found the giant timbers for my mounted shelves there a few years ago and I still marvel at how much I love them.

If possible, I'd like to build the top out of recycled wood using biscuit joiners. I just learned what a biscuit joiner is. Good times. And my end goal is something of the like:

And maybe someday I'll learn how to weld and make super cool metal bases. Heck, if I had a studio/workspace the dreams could just keep going and going as I'd love to make a table top with a chevron pattern. Of different stains and colors. How, HOW can I make this happen? Need tools and space and someone to help teach me. Keeps the dreams alive I guess.

Bad Ass.

Let's face it, women rule. I'm working on trying to incorporate a weekly post on bad ass women because: 
A) they are everywhere around me, and around all of you I'm sure of it, and 
B) they inspire me; helping me to realize my potential, to continue going after my dreams and to be proud of who I am.  
c) because I'm so so proud to be a WOMAN!

To kick things off, check out the totally awesome gals in the film, !Women Art Revolution, featured this weekend at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. If you don't happen to live in Minnie, I checked it out and you can save it in your netflix queue for when its available to ship.

!Women Art Revolution
!Women Art Revolution (!W.A.R.) is a fascinating documentary that combines interviews, artwork, and rarely-seen archival film and video footage, collected over the past 40 years, to detail the evolution of the feminist art movement in the United States from 1968 to the present.
Trailer: 


Speaking of, I have a killer girls' dinner out tonight and I'm getting really excited to wear some lipstick and engage in what is sure to be fantastic banter!

Have great weekends! 

List.

I spoke to my mama last night. She rules. At one point she asked me what's on my Christmas list. Oooooh, the can of worms has been opened. On the spot I can never seem to think of anything. But here I am, less than 24-hours later and sure enough I thought of a few things.

+ Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
+ Bossypants, by Tina Fey
+ A subscription to The Week

+ This chunky throw blanket
+ A bottle of Baileys < yum

+ Anything from J. Crew

Really I'm just bummed I'm not going to MN this holiday season. Luckily my bro and I are on a mission to plan the most epic family Minnesota lake adventure for this summer.

What's on your list?

Heavy.

We celebrated the third annual Seattle Friends Thanksgiving last Saturday night - this is not to be confused with the MN Friends Thanksgiving tradition of which I believe is in its 10th year this year, and I have only missed a few since moving to Seattle. Both are fab events for sure. Here in Seattle its always a stellar lineup of glutinous eats, ultra competitive Pictionary and the wine flows like water. We also never skip the tear-jerkingly emotional "go around the table and say something you're thankful for" step in the process. This year was especially emotional as some folks had welcomed a new baby, another team is currently pregnant. New houses, new marriages and new and cherished friendships all dominated the tear ducts of gratefulness. This year was especially emotional for me as a very close and dear friend of mine had phoned me the night before with tragic news: Her mother, in all likelihood, has pancreatic cancer. We both sobbed as I listened to her talk about what she'd experienced since hearing the news only hours before. That moment where your life turns instantly from going through the daily motions, going to work, talking with friends, laughing at a happy hour, planning a trip, yadda yadda <<< to BAM! living and breathing every moment thinking and talking about cancer, and your fears and your hopes and your sadness and your appreciation. And trying to comprehend what it was like before this moment. Before this new phase.

Prior to attending the Thanksgiving celebration I had begun to craft my list of Thanks. Fairly obvious ones considering the year we've had:
+ For my new husband.
+ For our incredible wedding day and all of the love and support and generosity we felt - the energy in that room was something I'll never forget.
+ For our honeymoon - trips are so special and rare, and I'll never forget so many of the experiences we were lucky enough to share in Greece and Rome.

And I had to add another to that list.
+ For my mama. I'm very thankful for her. She is a pretty incredible gal and I adore our hour-long chats peppered with hilarity and recipes, and even just nothing special, just banter. I love you, mama!

Weekend.

Its supposed to rain here all weekend. All. Weekend. I'm actually somewhat ok with it as we have plans to attend a Thanksgiving dinner party with friends which will entail good food, wine + cozy games like Pictionary.

Have a cozy weekend!
And for now I'll leave you with these warm-weather adorable outfits taken from the The Sartorialist.

Next week I'll regale you with stories from a doctor I sat next to on a plane (en route to MN!) who is enraged with the healthcare system. Good stuff!

Gals.

I'm feeling kinda blue today. Not even sure why, which, is part of the problem. Its one of those days where I wish I could invite all of my favorite girlfriends over for a super girlie dinner party and just laugh and chat and drink wine. Why does that help so much? Because girls rule.

Let's take this a step further and plant those girls having the best time ever in one of these dining rooms. Fun stuff! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

All photos courtest of Living etc

Honeymoon {Rome, Italy}

Two weeks after our wedding, two of our best friends were married just outside of Chicago. Tyson was the best man. It was a stunning ceremony and a fabulous party. The following day we jetted off to Greece. Two days after that, they were off to Italy. Our original honeymoon brainstorm included Turkey and Greece, but when we learned that we could possibly meet up with these fabulous pals somewhere in Italy for a big honeymoon hullabaloo, we quickly refined our plans.

hul·la·ba·loo

   [huhl-uh-buh-loo]  

noun, plural -loos.

a clamorous noise or disturbance; uproar.

It is rare to travel with other adults as jobs and families and timing all make things complex as we get older. Throw in the fact that the four of us were a pack of newlyweds, and I think you'll agree this was a wise decision. BOOM < Rome! We agreed to meet-up at the Trevi Fountain at 5pm. Below you see the photo of us arriving in Rome, at the Trevi Fountain, horribly dirty and exhausted after the transportation strikes in Athens. That's right, NO TRANSPORTATION. We had to pay some random guy on the street to take us to the airport for $100! Luckily Tyson followed the map the entire way guaranteeing that we were in fact going to the airport and not to some dungeon somewhere with perfect strangers.  

First of all I'll just say this: Rome is the bomb. I studied abroad in Italy, specifically Florence, and had been to Rome twice before this trip. I find that the city is endlessly romantic and beautiful, the people are great, and of course no one can complain about the food or the wine or the prosecco. Or the espresso. Yum.

We rented an apartment in the city, which was relatively inexpensive and a great way for us all to stay together. Two bedrooms, a great living room/dining room, and a perfect kitchen for Tyson to make us espresso every morning. That mixed with the fact that in the first floor of the building was a BAKERY! Yum. Each night we'd pop in and buy - first two, then four, and then finally eight pastries. Hazelnut. Lemon. Nutella. We'd eat some in the evenings and save some for espresso.

That first evening = Excited discussions and honeymoon story exchange over countless glasses of wine for several hours. Then we headed to dinner around 11pm. Sleepy time around 3-4am. Yep.

All subsequent days went a little somethin' like this = 

+ Rise somewhere mid-morning

+ Tyson's espresso and pastries

+ Decide on a site-seeing item of the day - usually just one

+ Maybe find a place to sit and have a glass of wine and a snack
+ More espresso
+ Back to the apartment to change and then sit at our table and sip wine chatting for several hours
+ Late dinner

Paradise. Daily.

One day we rented bikes and pedaled all around:::::::::::::::::::

We eventually found our way to the Villa Borghese Park. The boys played games like Who Can Pedal Around Three Trees The Fastest (using an iPhone as a stopwatch), and also Who Can Catch a Buckeye Nut In Their Basket "going long".  

Eventually we sat and sipped some wine and prosecco. This made for a lovely afternoon in the grass.

 

And heaps of FLIRTING:

Rome was so great. Our friends are great. I wish I could go back and do it all over again. All of the Segments. Milos. Folegrandos. Santorini. And Rome with our fellow honeymooners.

Cheers to your next adventure! Whatever it may be. As for us, back to real life. I must admit though, its trips like these that make me psychotic and get out the 2012 calendar to begin to plan...

Worry.

I had an interesting conversation with a girlfriend the other day. Sparked by this post, we launched into a chat about worrying. You sort of assume, I suppose, that everyone worries. But I found myself surprised by the things that this friend worried about. Things I would NEVER guess. And she expressed the same about my admitted fears, and things that give me anxiety.

And I can usually tell (now that I'm thirty-wise-three) when the tidal wave is coming. Sometimes hormone-related, other times not. Its like, "shit, here it comes!" Even still I can't seem to identify that I'm in one of those spirals though when I'm IN IT. We called it "going to our bad place". For me inevitably I begin to worry about what everyone around me is thinking. I know, I know...this is silly. I get it. But I can't help it! And it becomes paralyzing. I feel like a crazy bitch! For a few days I become suspect to tone and intentions, and worry about what someone "meant" by something. If it gets really ugly I start to wonder where the hell my life is going, and oh boy, that's fun. Give it a few days and I look back and always think, "Well, that was stupid." Its like POOF, all of those really intense emotions and fears are just gone. Gone.

From: Pinterest

It killed me to hear my girlfriend report that her worry is ultimately: that she doesn't have any talent (Oh my, so wrong in so many ways). And also that she worries about feeling sorry for herself, like a victim...when really, she should just be empowered and the steer the course of her life where she wants it to go.

Why is it that we can really be our own worst enemies? Our minds our toughest obstacles?

Daylight. Savings.

Isn't it an interesting title? = Daylight Savings. Save it up! Anyway, enjoy an extra hour this weekend...that is, until 4pm rolls around next week at work and its black as night outside.

I need a good laugh. Like a belly laugh where you can't even stop if you tried. 

This picture (from pinterest) made me want to take a trip to see far away friends. Specifically, my friend Haley. Who makes me laugh so hard I cannot contain myself most of the time. Laughing rules.

I also saw this trailer today for Jennifer Aniston's new movie, Wanderlust, and I have to say it looks kinda funny.


 Have a lovely weekend!

Honeymoon {Santorini, Greece)

So I said that the honeymoon felt {surprisingly} really long all due to those aforementioned Segments. By the time we reached Santorini we felt like we'd had a whole honeymoon already. And that honeymoon was superbly chill and tourist-free. We skipped off the boat alongside what felt like hundreds of other people and were immediately herded into a stressful line for a coach bus taking us from the ferry port to the town of Fira. It was strange to land in a place so far away and free from stress and then have the unspoken words of a crowd make me immediately feel pressure to GET ON A BUS! Everyone was just rushing and pushing and nervous. The Santorini situation was really a shock to the system after our first week in Greece. Cruise ships were dumping people off and tour buses were everywhere. I hadn't even heard an American accent until now. And we were told that September was THE time to go because hell, if you went in August you would be shoulder to shoulder with people and unable to move. Apparently September is dreamy comparatively. Which, is hard for me to even imagine an August-like scene. Why? Why on earth would anyone want to come and do that?!

In any case, we eventually found our way past the town of Fira and over to the very end of the island to the town Oia. We hadn't booked a place to stay yet on account of the fact that September was supposed to be golden, but with all those cruise ships I was getting nervous. We sat down at a little restaurant, ordered a beer, and then I set off to find something while Tyson watched the bags. And found something I did! Our gnome closet! This gal had one room left and it just happened to be a room with a giant castle-like wooden door that opened to a teeny-tiny kitchenette, couch and bathroom. Up a ladder you went to get to the bedroom, and then scurry up another little ladder to pop out onto the private little balcony looking out over the entire caldera. Cost: I think because the ladders weren't really suited for all types of travelers it was actually reasonably priced. We'll take it!

After the initial shock of Santorini's tourism, I came down from my ledge of impatience and was able to understand why on earth it is such a busy place. Santorini is breathtakingly beautiful. And unique and like no place I've ever been. I get it. I see why people go. We spent three days zipping around on another scooter and checking out beaches. But we also just sat. On our incredible gnome balcony. We sat a lot and drank wine and listened to music and played rounds and rounds of cribbage. It was perfectly dreamy and one of my favorite memories of the trip. I'll never forget that balcony.

Off to Rome! <<<<<< My final honeymoon post.
THANK YOU to all of you who helped make our honeymoon happen! We will never, ever forget these places. Love you!

Rustic Modern.

Fall. Cooking and chopping things and sipping tea. Or Wine.
These cozy rustic kitchens would be great to hole up and do just that.

From Living etc.

Crabbing.

My dear friend Lindsay had a birthday last week and her boyfriend planned a flawlessly covert crabbing excursion for the weekend. She knew she was going crabbing, THAT was hard to disguise. She just didn't realize others were coming until we jumped out and screamed like hell in surprise. Surprises rule.

So five of us hopped into our teeny boat. The pots were all baited. Through the eyeball of a fish to be exact. Gross. On account of the sunshine I decided to forge ahead with my flip-flops as a shoe option and that worked about as long as it took us to pull up the first pot and lose one in the boat. It crawled on my bare foot. I shrieked like a baby in horror. I then put my rain boots on like a good girl.

The whole experience was surreal. We all fell into place in terms of our roles on Captain Lindsay's ship. I became the boat driver, the boys and Lindsay were the crab-pot-pullers as well as inspectors and measure-ers. We needed to verify two things: male or female and whether or not they were big enough. Females went back into the drink and the large-enough males were kept as prize. Erin was the boat photographer though I tried to sneak the occasional shot on my phone (posted here).

After three hours of throwing and pulling pots we caught somewhere between 12 and 14 crabs totaling 25 pounds. It was an incredible experience! Lindsay was fearless in her crab assessments and even survived a few harrowing pincher moments. I was totally impressed. I didn't realize it until the one tried to eat my foot that to me they seem a bit like spiders. And damn I hate spiders. The marina cooked and helped us clean all of our booty and sent us on our way. We made our way back to our campsite just in time to grab a beer and catch the sunset on the beach of the Oregon coast. Then we made a fire and sat around eating as many spiders as our stomachs would allow.

Happy Birthday, Linds! A magical weekend indeed.