Mariners WIN!!!

We went to the game today - it's was really fun. See some pictures!

Seattle Mariners vs. Chicago White Sox

It was quite interesting with some folks around us. The family in front had a 14 year girl with flaming red (not natural red, but some goth red) hairdo. She was outfitted with the fishnet leggings AND gloves. It was weird - but she enjoyed he game.

The lady next me was in from San Jose to visit her son. They told me that I should take Hannah and Laura on the Ducks of Seattle trip. I think I'm going to take them - it sounds fun!

We walked at least three miles today AND I got Alistair to ride the bus. Can you believe it??? I can hardly. The last three pictures above show him on a bus. You have to look carefully, but you can see the floor and part of the door - plus his sour look gives it away.

Anyway - fun was had by both. Love you, love me!

Getting Serious

So, I've recently signed up on facebook as most of you probably already found out (unfortunately). I didn't know what I was doing, so I guess a bunch of you got emails. I apologize with my whole heart for doing such and evil thing. Though, if you think of it - join me. Not sure why yet, but perhaps it'll turn out to be cool. I am a bit concerned because Google has this thing called Orkut which is like myspace or this facebook. . .I'll have to check that out. I'll try really hard NOT to send you spam.

Other than that, Alistair is home, so I'll have plenty to discuss with you all in the upcoming days. I do want to say that I've gotten rid of my cable, joined netflix and have found a new love for the internet. So, I'll be posting more often. Yeah, yeah, I know I've said that before, but it's true this time.

I have a goal for this Saturday - go to the bank, get an allen wrench for the bathtub, send out my dry cleaning, sweep, try to get tickets to the ball game on Sunday, check out the Young Frankenstein show. Very exciting. I'll keep you posted.

But as far as getting serious - I have never been one for discipline, but I really have to get to my exercising on a really regular basis - I'll keep you posted. I really know you are all riveted! Anyway, much love to all!

June was CRAZY with a capital C

I thought May was busy, but let me tell you, June was CRAZY. I was trying to stay busy while Alistair was away. He was gone longer than usual this time because of his "summer job". He's mounting Leps (aka Butterflies or Moths). But here are some highlights of what happened to me!

Ciara and Gus took pity on me and took me out to dinner. Actually, I know they don't pity me - it was a newer Spanish restaurant that they had never tried. So, we had sangria and paella and several tapas. It was pretty good. The second picture was taken by staff and it is a big complicated camera - so sorry about the clarity.

Gaude

Everyone is having babies, Hellie, Tiffany, and Chuck (my boss). He brought his TWINS (yep, that's right, twins) to work to show them off. Will and Ella (fraternal twins). Carrie looks great and all the guys that turn to mush when a baby comes around it great!

Chuck's Babies

Then, just a few days after seeing Chuck's new babies - Tiffany decided to have one! Keira Rae has arrived. She came on June 16 at 5:30ish in the AM. Mom and Baby were great - Dad, too.

Keira Rae

I left seeing Keira Rae right after I took these photos and hung out with Ariva, and the kids (Sonya was the only one I knew right away). The others are her friends. I'd tell you there names, but some of them are not so easy to spell. But they were great - we saw High School Musical. It was done by a summer theater group of kids. The girls loved it! The young man (funny kid, really) kept telling me that it was definitely NOT High School Musical. It's an adaptation for the stage and the kids were much younger than the regular Disney show.

High School Musical

THEN I left that to meet Amy and Tiffany (Dillman, this time, not Canavan). We went and saw the Gwen Stefani Concert. IT was awesome. I only have a few pictures from before. I have to download the ones from my phone from the concert. The ones of Amy afterward are when Amy and I went shopping at the SUPER mall (it wasn't so super, but it did have a merri-go-round).

Gwen Stefani Weekend

Alistair came home a couple of days later. He was trying to surprise me, but alas, he failed. I could tell he was on the road (he kept calling me all day). That weekend we saw the pride parade they had on Broadway (the half way one, not the real one). Take a peek, but be careful, they are a little racy. . .

Pride Parade

The fourth came rumbling by (Alistair stayed - yay!!). The first few pictures you see the shows that were across the sound (it was kind of cool). The rest are some from the Ivar's show. I would like to mention that despite Alistair's asterisks by our win, Ciara and I DID win at Trival Pursuit. Alistair doesn't like it because we used the 20th Anniversary version which is a little different - but we SOUNDLY beat them. I will note that Gus and Alistair have won more times that Ciara and I, but, still, I needed to point out our win.

2007 Fourth of July

Okay - I will try (again) to do this more often. Much love to all.

I've been busy

hey all! yes, I know, it's been awhile. I have been busy. It has been really really nice here. . . so I walked around Seattle a couple of times. This particular time I saw this horse carriage guy talking to a woman and here VERY bold puppy. It was so cute, so I thought I'd take some pics. Let me know what you think.

horseNdog

Went to Ciara's birthday party and had a great time. . .

Ciara's Birthday!

babysat Sonya a couple of times . . . Isn't she the cutest?

A Day with Sonya

took pictures of Tiffany's belly (and her husband too) . . . there are more, but I have to get them to Tiffany first before I show all the rest of you. . .


had a baby shower for Tiffany . . . it was really fun. It was at work, but what I did was have everyone bring in their baby pictures (thanks Dad by the way) and then we all had to guess who was who. . . it was pretty funny. Of the 20 or so pictures, only one person got more than 6 right - and that was Josh - he got 11, but that's still pretty good. Everyone thought it was fun. We had good food and nice conversation and Keira (Tiff's belly not to be confused with my friend Ciara) got some nice gifts. Can't wait until she gets here so I can take pics of her too. Tiff says she's dilated (is that the right term?) 1 centimeter and is 70% something (you know those pregnancy terms get me so whatever). . .

Tiffany's Baby Shower

watched my cats lay in the sun and love my new rugs in the bathroom . . . (alistair played with the kitties too when he could visit) . . . they LOVE the sun. . .aren't they cute!

kitties

I've learned how to make fabulous bread - NO KIDDING - it's great - check it out here at the NEW YORK TIMES -->

Recipe: No-Knead Bread

I tried it and will post my bread making abilities via a picture later. . . it's wonderful. Guz Perez (thank you Gus) taught me how to do it! Well, he told me about it and then sent me the website. Oh, and he lent me a covered pan to make it in. Oh. . .AND he gave me the yeast. . .so, I really owe it all to him.

Last weekend I played poker (I lost), watched the Stanely Cup (The Ducks Win - which is what I wanted), and went to a baseball game (the Mariners Win!!)!

This weekend, I'm going to Hellie's baby shower and then WHITEWATER RAFTING on the Wenachee River - how cool is that??? Hopefully I can get some more pictures out there for everyone! Then the following weekend I get to go to High School Musical with Sonya and her mom Arvia. Then the next day I'm going with Amy and Tiffany (a different one than the preggers one) to see Gwen Stephani. . . can't wait! THEN the following weekend, I'm going to go and meet Alistair in Idaho (I think. .. we haven't picked yet). Then I think I'll take a break - I'll need it for when Hannah and Laura visit in September and October. . . but hopefully I'll be doing something before then.

AND ALISTAIR??? Well, if you haven't noticed, he hardly answers his phone because he's busy with a crazy BEETLE convention. He's been working his little heart out there in Montana on beetles and making friends with other beetle lovers. I'm not there to take pictures, so none to show. Maybe I'll get him to post some bug stuff soon. He did go caving. . . in an ice cave. Unfortunately you can really only see the outside. ..

ice-cave

He just started his "summer job" mounting some butterflies. And if you know Alistair, it's a kind of torture. Butterflies. . . can you hear him berating all the butterflies in the drawer? I can. . .

more to come - it's been an exciting summer so far!


much love to you all!

A whole month goes by!

A lot has gone on in a month. I can't believe it's been that long! Everyone is good. Alistair has been working hard at school, doing proposals, tests, and teaching. He complains about the cold, but I think a few of us know about the whole cold thing!

When Alistair came back in the middle of March, we didn't think he's be able to come back for our anniversary on April 1st, so we went out to El Gaucho (our favorite steak place) to celebrate. Cj tried to come with us as you can see.

Night out on the town

But, alas, he got away on our anniversary and surprised me by coming home. It was great. We did fabulous things, like . . . .hang pictures, pet cats. . . you all know - very glamorous stuff! Here's the fruit of our efforts.



Though, it's not the only one. And, unfortunately, I haven't spent much time on pictures, so the pictures in this one are still factory owned. Pretty sad, I know.


Here are some kitty pictures, though - Alistair and willie are best friends. Willie likes the TV more than we do. And I kid you not when I say, we didn't stage this. . . it fell there and he just didn't move, kept on cleaning him self.



Then Alistair had a lovey dovey session with Willie.

Though, I think Willie likes the furry blanket we got from Carol and Doug WAY better than he likes either of us. Here's a picture of him just hugging it. He's usually caught up in cleaning the nice blankey. It doesn't bite him (like CJ) or hiss at him (like mouse mouse) or shoo him away in the middle of the night when he's laying on your head (like me. . . and alistair). So, I guess it's the perfect friend.
In addition, I've been hanging out with this cool 6 year old, Sonya - she's the daughter of Peter Clitherow (I work with him). Technically we call it babysitting, but Sonya and I seem to have a pretty good time.
She came over to my house a couple of saturdays ago and played nintendo. . . we don't do that most of the time - but this time was special. Say hi! Isn't she cute!

craziness!

Hey! I had a great night last night. Gus and I went to get tattoos. We've been talking about it for a week or so. And I've been talking about it for a couple of months. We went on Thursday night for some bigger tattoos, but we found that we actually needed to think that stuff out a little more. Then on the way home after watching the U Dub get their butts handed to them in a basketball game, we decided we should bond over some drum corps. So we did.

Gus was part of Orlando Magic and if anyone knows me, you know it's all about the Madison Scouts. So we decided to get corps tattoos. So last night, after work, we went out and got them! They're AWESOME! We love it. Gus got a 6 (for the 6 guys) and a bass clef.


and kp? I got the fleur de lys. . . of course!







So, take a look at the whole gallery.

Tattoos

Afterwards, we met up with Kevin (the new U dub professor) and Javier and Anna and Linda's on Pine. Fun times - definitely AWWWWESome! Much love to them!

Exciting news - Alistair is coming back for spring break. He'll be here for a couple of days. I'm super excited. We'll keep you updated on the week's happenings.

The house is coming together - I got an under the sink organizer which makes me super excited. It's the little things I guess. I'm off to get special floor cleaner - I know you're excited about it.

love to all, more pictures and blogging to come.

A night out on the town

Saturday was fabulous. Diana and I went out to dinner at the Capitol Club - I had the burger and she had a pita sandwich of some sort (sorry Diana, can't exactly remember it). Then we headed over to Lo Fi to listen to Saundrah's new band Bad Dream Good Breakfast. Check out their music. It's really cool. I really like the website too, (the first link) - it's kind of a cool comic book/graphic novel. . .

We had a lot of fun and chatted with lots of people. There were actually three bands and it was great. Check out the pictures! You'll see Diana, Jen and Derek (they're at the end). Saundrah is in a bunch since it's her band (and she invited us!). Anyway - much love to all!

Bad Dream Good Breakfast

Back in Action

It's been awhile. But those that know us, know we've been busy with life. But to get back to what's important and filling everyone in on that! You all know I did a play, so check out the pictures

HP Lovecraft - Colour Out Of Space

We had a great view of the New Year's celebration! It was quite tame, I assure you. Our friend Gus came on over and we all had a great time playing poker and watching Rob n Big (check it out on Mtv - really - I recommend it - it' s a little weird watching friends on a tv show, but they're quite endearing to watch (if you can believe that on Mtv). At any rate - here's a look at our view

2006 New Year in Seattle

Alistair went back to school the week after New Year's. He called me to tell me the car didn't work and that it was 15 below (and no he assured me that was NOT the wind chill reading). Apparently you shouldn't leave your car in Montana for two months to have snow pile up on it and roast in wonderful negative degree temperatures. . . .what do you think?

Well, if that wasn't bad enough, the West Coast has been getting winter (someone things the East Coast needed a break this year with all those 70 degree days!). I woke up on Tuesday morning to snow on Capitol Hill. Normally, when it snows here, it doesn't stick to the roads, but the roads were covered! As were the cars and everything else. I walked to work instead of taking the bus. Mostly because I got almost all the way there before a bus passed me, but also because I saw the lack of control Seattle drivers (bus driver or no) when they put their breaks on - and when you live on a hill, gravity does lots of work! On my way, I took some pictures. The last ones are of a couple making a snow man at the bike park just above the freeway. It was cute. Check it out

Snow day in Seattle

If you click on any of the pictures, they should take you to a link to my Picasa folder on Google (they're the best).

As for the rest of my time. I've really been working pretty hard. But I want to try to get to more of the city and do things here. So, I've gone to see a movie or two. I saw the Departed (completely recommend - even Marky Mark was good). I was invested emotionally in the characters and I think that's a little difficult when you have a cast of people like Leo, Matt, Mark, Martin and Jack - I mean, other than Jack, they haven't done anything really amazing - and even Jack's a questionable. But it's a script that doesn't follow the typical Hollywood formula and that's refreshing if not just a little unsatisfying from a closure standpoint (see every romance movie with Hugh Grant). I learned it's a remake of a Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs which is apparently very very good - so if you're interested in a foreign film, check it out. The bottom line is that you need to see The Departed. It's not for the squeamish as there is the love of the old blood packet nor is it for the persnickety - according to the trivia at imdb.com, the variations of the f-word is used over 230 times. . . that aside, really, it's a very good crime drama.

I've also seen the newly out David Lynch movie called Inland Empire. David Lynch of Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, Mulholland Dr., and the most widely known Twin Peaks fame, does it again in this new film. It starts out very oddly, so oddly, in fact, I start to think I may not be able to pull out any understanding (it involves lifesize bunnies. . . is there much more to say there?). However, then it delves into the real story. Not surprisingly, you see Laura Dern. Now, for the most part, I only believe Ms. Dern has any money is because of Mr. Lynch - and not exactly rightly so. . . he apparently has some very bizarre fetish for the woman that completely escapes me. But I do have to say - she's good - really good in this film. So good, in fact, that during the movie, I was actually actively thinking, "she deserves a nomination for this film."

It gets dicey in the middle of the 3 hours. Now, I'm not sure if it was because it was about 2am when I started to nod off, or if it was because the film was a little beyond my reach at this point. I'm going to chalk it up to a little of both because I slapped my face awake for the last 45 minutes and didn't miss a beat about what the movie was possibly trying to convey. Now I say possibly because David Lynch (as my friend and co-worker Saundrah said so eloquently - and truly) lives in a dream state. Nothing really makes that much sense, but at the root level, it relates to something that happened before. I read a review from a Portland reviewer that recommended seeing it several times (see Mulholland Dr.) and it will become a great favorite of yours. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but I could see it again (maybe not until 3pm on a school night) and I like it. It was interesting.

But really, I saw it at an unreasonable time - and why you ask? Well, Mr. Lynch was in Seattle all day yesterday. He was giving autographs and introduced the movie at 7:30pm followed by a QnA. Now, I WOULD have gone to the 7:30pm show had it not been SOLD OUT for several weeks. So, alas, I was stuck going to the late late show. For those of you that now start to worry about me being alone at night - fear not, I had a friend along! Back to the important part you're missing. David Lynch ALSO introduced the midnight show - though now QnA followed as 3am "is past his bedtime" (as quoted by the hosting artist sponsor). Isn't that past EVERYONE'S bed time on a Wednesday? Oh well, something cool and interesting to do here in Seattle.

Now that you've been brought up to speed - I'll keep you all posted. Tomorrow night I have tickets to In DisDress Now: Redux. It got a Stranger Suggests for this week, and it looks good and it's only for two more nights. So, I'll let you know how it is. There's a one act festival on Sunday I might crash. . . but we'll see. Then I'll check this out next week - a musical about a brain aneurysm - it's based on the author's real diagnosis (apparently incorrect diagnosis). That'll take me right up to Feb 1 - and guess what I'm doing then?????

I'm visiting the FAMILY! Super excited to do it too. Hannah's got a basketball game on the Monday and Laura's birthday (and the superbowl) are on that Sunday. Plus I'll get to see Grandma, Mom, Dad, Pat, Joe, the boys, and Paul - and I hope to see many more!

Much love - I'll update you on my theater experiment tomorrow night.