48 posts tagged “friends”

Due to a need to sleep, I did not take off nearly as early as I thought I would.  It was all good though since the plan was only to go so far as Portland, OR.

After a few final errands and good-byes Umlaut and I hit the road and headed south. 

I made a pit stop at a Mount Saint Helen’s visitor center and at Mrs. Beesley’s for a quick late lunch early dinner.   I am not even sure where it is, but Jennifer knew.

Jennifer is a friend who graciously said she would put me up for the night, but then had to go to Seattle at the last minute so she left me the key all the same so I could stay the night anyway.

I was exhausted when I got there; though the drive was relatively short it was emotionally draining.  To know that I was driving away and though I would be back for visits, I was leaving the amazing friends I had made in my almost twelve years in Seattle.

When I arrived at the little white house on the corner I was greatly impressed by the amazing bathroom.

After taking some time to relax, I called some other friends in Portland whom I had not seen since college and we went to the Kennedy School House for a late dinner and a few beers.  Though I was exhausted, I am glad I made it.

I managed to get to bed at a decent time; then stayed there until fairly late.  Finally at nearly noon, I hit the road…  on to Boise.

More photos available on flickr.

Since most of my stuff is boxed up in a storage unit my creative outlet has moved to food.

It has been a really nice summer in Seattle, hot, not too humid, not too dry, just overall really decent.  That said though one of my favorite things to cook is chili and stews, it isn’t exactly the right weather so I have been trying a few other things.

Tonight was a Mediterranean inspired meal.  I cheated on the falafel and used the “Fantastic Foods” brand that comes in a box, but made the rest.  I used quinoa instead of cous cous on the tabouli which turned out really nice, though I could have increased the lemon and parsley (which just seemed really bland as far as parsley goes) a little for a bit more punch.  The cucumber salad was really simple, onions cucumber, yogurt, dill.  It was a nice cool dinner for a hot night.

Though I have not been terribly crafty since December, I have been fairly active with my camera... I have developed a bit of an obsession with my fisheye and animal noses…

I have also just been taking more photos overall.  Except for this weekend, I had a garage sale with some friends.  I managed to get rid of some stuff, but there is still a lot to get rid of.  Anyone want to buy my stuff?  No my fabric stash is not for sale. 

My summer so far... there are worse things than unemployment...

Yesterday TxK and I decided to venture out of the snowfields of the eastside and head south in search of warmer weather…

To Puyallup we went to the Spring Fair and to the Smashfest Demo Derby.  Even with the frigid tempatures (for April in Washington anyway), we had a super fun time.

Heck I'd go so far as to say: Best $20 I have spent on live entertainment in a long time.

I also found a most wonderful wool hoodie sweater and a carmel apple, both of which have been on my hunt list for a while now.

I need to go on another trip... *sigh* 

I dumped all of my photos in my flickr account but I did very little editing... here are a few of my favorites that I do not think I have already posted...

In a blender add:

 

1 Jeep

4 friends

1 dog

300 Miles

1000 tons of sand

34 Petrified Logs

1 closed malt shop

1 waitress gone mad

14 wild horses

1 bridge

 

Sprinkle with laughs and road bugs and blend for 6 hours.

 

So I did it.  I traded in the Snaab for something newer and better. 

Things were just starting to go mysteriously wrong.  Things that no one could pin point exactly and I for one and not about to just start paying money for a hunch of what could be wrong.  Things that felt like the front wheel wanting to fall off, so I turned her in.

I got myself a new car.  I have had my eye on it for a while.  A distant cousin of Url. 

It is really quite lovely, the clutch is a little different, oh heck, everything is a little different, but that is ok by me.

mmmm love that new car smell...

A little while ago I decided it was time to move.  My friend TxK was also looking at moving and found a place closer to work, than where I was living.  It just so happened there was more than one unit available, so I decided to move to the neighborhood too.  I am still moving, but I will soon have a whole room for crafting!!  I have not done much other than pack and unpack, but soon.

Through it all I discovered my new favorite movie.  If you like action movies with a little humor, or you simply find Clive Owen as hot as I do (I even named a goldfish after him), you will love this flick.

 

This weekend TxK, J9 and I headed out to Portland. 

I decided to only take my fisheye lens with me, for the sake of simplicity as much as a challenge.

We decided it would be fun to take the train, which was nice since none of us had to drive, though of course I lost my return train ticket and had to buy a new one.  Oh well.

We headed down there for the Crafty Wonderland Craft Extravaganza. 

The first night we called a friend who runs tastingmenu.com to see if he had any recommendations, but he did not. 

So we decided to take it into our own hands when I found a review for Dan & Lois Oyster Bar.  TxK called Pkl who we were meeting for dinner (the place with the bacon tater tots was unavailable).  The food was quite nice.  The steak cooked PERFECTLY.

After dinner we headed for Voodoo Doughnuts since they have a maple bar with bacon on it, yes I said bacon, on the doughnut.  It was quite delightful. 

Then we went to a bar that Pkl’s friend is a co-owner of.  The service was meh, the drinks were good, the lights were blue and the bathrooms stunk.  I am hoping it is a sign of just working out the kinks. We stayed at the Jupiter. 

Which brings me to the Crafty Wonderland craft fair… usually it is in the Doug Fir which is at the Jupiter, not this one; we failed to note this though we ALL looked at the email.  Sadly this resulted in us not getting the goody back.  The fair was packed, I would have taken pictures but all you would see is a sea of people.
Then we headed to another craft fair up the street, something about a Bunny…?

After which we searched for lunch and stumbled upon Hippo’s which was AMAZING.  They have pretty much everything hardware, lighting and bathroom related. 

They even had these HUGE tubs, over six feet!!  One was in One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest (the movie, probably not the book).

We went to Nicolas’ for lunch, delicious.

As we wandered around we came across a tattoo shop.  Kelli decided to get a green star inked on her wrist.

Then it was time to head home.  I had to buy a new train ticket, but whatever it was my own fault for losing it. 

Overall it was a fun weekend, good friends, good food, good crafts.