What if teardrops really left stains-
What a poet pain would be,
Leaving lines on every pillow,
Signing epitets from eyes

  to

  lip.

.

Oh hey, a couple weeks ago,

Brade got older.

We took him to dinner.

(And I took photos of us, awkwardly, and enjoyed it - as you can see)

And we took him to Molly Moons. 

And we ate ice cream. 

And took pictures of our shoes. 

Because they are nice and a great color combo (or just mostly black). 

And then we went to Game Works and played video games (note their suits) 

like all grown adults should when celebrating getting older. 

Yep - Happy Birthday to Brado... a few weeks ago.  

(I'm totally getting caught up, not to mention practicing excellent story-telling skills.) 

A side note:  Braden has taken to referring to himself as "The B-Man"  - which is not cool. 

I have begun a petition.  Contact me if you'd like to join. 

Catching up on weekends:

March 17th - St. Patrick's Day

Lessons learned:  

1. Maybe take less pictures while you run - it could improve your time. 

2. Bring safety pins.  

3. Don't zip lock the timing chip to the very bottom lace.  

Amateur Night?  No doubt.  But we'll be back.  

Sorry Morg, I know you hate this photo, but I love it... I kept it off Facebook, so I'm a semi-decent friend. :/

After the run, we drove to The Owl 'N Thistle for some Irish breakfast and coffee... I was not pleased that they decided to serve everything in plastic dishes for St. Patrick's Day.  But, I was glad to get to introduce Morgs to a place I probably love more than I should.  The snow started pouring and we were glad to be inside finally.

The afternoon I got to go to a concert with some friends, and while I thought it (the music) was going to suck - it was actually quite grand.  ;)  I knew the opener would be good.... I just didn't realize I even knew who the band was.  I should be embarrassed to admit that, but oddly, I'm not.

It was nothing I had expected, and all quite last minute (literally), but isn't that how many of the best days happen?

The next morning (noon), I got to have breakfast with T at Maltby, and she introduced me to one of her special spots.  I felt quite lucky - and the fact that there were some sort of animals there seemed about right for us.

March 23rd-25th:

 This past weekend, I took Friday off and the fun began right after work on Thursday.  Kristin, Esther and I met up for happy hour, soon joined by Morgs & Adam, Thomas (morgan's coworker - some of you Sbuxers know him), and John (my friend from soccer - look for the beard below) for dinner.  The night, and the group grew from there.  It was the Hunger Games premier.  And I'll confess I spent a good hour trying to nap in the seats.  It didn't really work.

 We needed out all over the table at the restaurant. 

Be gracious to us - it was nearly 3am at this point.  

The Carps and I spent the night at Esther's and were spoiled with omelets, biscuits and gravy, mimosas, and Irish-ish coffee for breakfast.  After noon, we ventured out to Fremont for Morgan to conduct a proper introduction to Milstein Coffee.  It was worth the ridiculous drive there, and nearly hour of traffic back for me.  Truly.  I was back the next day.  And I might be back a lot more often.  ;)

I headed over early afternoon to the Clise Mansion in Redmond to begin my responsibilities helping coordinate the reception for one of my dear (DEAR) friend's wedding.  What a beautiful couple, ceremony and evening... I can't tell you how much I loved getting to help.  (Seriously though!)

  Saturday, I slept in and recovered.  Kristin brought me coffee, we headed out on our "boarding day" - which really had less boarding in it than other things, but regardless it had sunshine, reading, tasty drinks, adventure and each other and it was quite lovely.  :)  Spring is here.

New purchases from Kristin and my's day in Fremont. :)

The history of a number of cocktails, recipes, how to make your own bitters, cool photography and a local author - I felt compelled. 

And a stop in to the Ballard vinyl shop yielded these two treats:  

Fun's new album, and a used record of my buddy George. 

Sunday was my parent's 40th Anniversary. (woot! woot!)

Which meant they weren't home.  And, neither was I.  

Through a turn of events, I spent the third day in a row in Fremont.  

And I'm kind of caught up - minus a trip to California, a hike and a few other big events.

Crushing on some new aprons...

 Anthropologie.  Of course. 

Recipe Book anyone?

Email from my sister, Kristin.  Thought I'd share this with the rest of you HG nerds today.  How many of these facts did you know, and pick up on as you were reading through? 

"As I went to my favorite website ever (dictionary.com) I was interested by this. They gave us this sweet little nugget of wisdom on our reaping day. :)"



Katniss

related to the Latin word sagittate, meaning shaped like an arrowhead.

Primrose

a type of flower named after the Latin number one.

Gale

a very strong wind.

Madge

a female given name, from a Greek word meaning pearl.

Cinna

an advisor to Caesar who conspired to kill him in Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar.

Seneca

Roman philosopher and writer of tragedies who advised Emperor Nero and was forced to commit suicide.

Plutarch

Greek biographer, who valued morality and character in leaders.

Flavius

a Roman male name, probably originally meaning "yellow-haired."

Coriolanus

legendary Roman military hero and tragic Shakespearean general who defected from the army.

Claudius

former Roman emperor; also Hamlet's deceitful uncle.

Rue

a strong-scented perennial herb with grey-green bitter-tasting leaves; an irritant similar to poison ivy.

“Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you.”



-Katniss Everdeen

You know it's bad when as you close your eyes, you tell yourself:

"Just think of it as an extra long nap." 

It didn't work.  I still feel very tired this morning.   But far too giddy to really care. 
This girl is NERDING OUT.    Why not?!   It's really quite fun.  And the only people who catch that you're doing it, are the ones who want to themselves too, but are trying to play it cool.   (or aren't.)  So yes, under my button up is my amazing bow & arrow T from Kimberlee... my hair is in a long Katniss-inspired braid.  And in my head, I just keep hearing Effie say,

"It's going to be a big, big, BIG day!"

As I packed for my long next couple days this morning, it was twinged with some sadness:  my HG inspired jewelry that I ordered on Etsy, still hasn't arrived.  :(   Yes - I did.  It's awesome. 

Last night was our first Blueberries game.  We lost.  We've got a few glitches to work out.  But, then we went to some random tiny little bar, that I wouldn't quite call a "dive bar" because it's actually incredibly cute inside, and they don't serve hard alcohol.  Our waitress should have been called "Sal"  and I'm pretty sure she was disappearing to take smoke breaks every few minutes - but she was AMAZING.  Besides one other guy in there, we were her crew, and she made the best of it - and us of her.  Such a fun time - it always is with these people though, I tell ya.  Who knew I'd love those berries so much. 

Well, this is going to be a long day (and a long tomorrow) and both should be AMAZING.  I hope you all have a lovely Thursday, and...

May the odds be ever in your favor.

 

A few photos from last Friday: One of my favorite days of work to date. 

Touring a local historic steamplant.

Had you seen it from the outside, like me, you would not have expected to find such spectacular views and oddities inside.  We rounded a corner and began descending these stairs, suddenly overwhelmed by the 4 story atrium of windows and light-washed room.  Old machinery grows out of the floors.  And an old piano keeps them company.  How it came to be there, who knows?  But I'd have paid my monthly allowance to the musician who sat down to play it in that mechanic cathedral. The clerestory of windows along the top reminded me of no less as we climbed stairway after stairway after glorified ladder. When we returned from the roof and travelled to the far end we were led through a long dark room - architects being hurried along - I stopped for a second and quickly lost my place, and didn't mind.  There were boxes everywhere of old gas lamps, wire electrical inventions and wonders.  Things you'd search and search for in antique stores.  I turned to my left and there was an old steam engine... on tracks.  It had been stored away here, velvet cushions on the seats still.  I realized I better get back to the group, pull out my pen and catch up on the notes.  This week I'm working away on our proposal, and saying more than a prayer that we win the bid, and I have a few more opportunities to wander this mechanical cathedral of wonders.