ice skating videos

I went to an ice-skating show Saturday to watch some really talented kids strut their stuff. The videos are of my friend's daughter along with other skaters.

card playing in Portland

I drove to Portland yesterday to have lunch with a client and to visit an old college friend. I forget sometimes that Washington is such a huge mecca with regard to foresting. I forget how large trees get and often a little sentimental when I see them logged and being trucked around. Great views of the bridge to Oregon, a funny bumper sticker saying 'keep Portland WEIRD', angel in my coffee at Boyd's in the Pearl district, and confusion in the bathroom this morning. I was obviously still tired, when I started looking for the spigot that was operated by the 'but' lever. I'd never seen a 'but' lever before. It was the 'shower' lever that tipped me off finally.

It felt great to be back in town and feeling like I knew where I was going. My college friend had bought a 100 year old house and had completely redone it restoring it to original hardware, tiles, and natural wood trim (verses painting).

After dinner, the B*E*S*T part of the evening aside from catching up with my girlfriend was playing this fun family inclusive card game. Here's how it works:

• Each player starts out with 5 tokens (pennies, beans, poker chips, whatever)

• The dealer hands out one card face down to each player

• The person to the right of the dealer goes first - it's all about keeping or trading your one card to ensure that you will have the highest card for the round.

• You can only trade to your right

• The person to your right has to trade with you whether they want to or not

• Only if you have a King do you not have to trade (this often sticks the person to your left with their card)

• IF you have a King, you must turn your card face up so the table can see it.

• The dealer has an option to keep their card or go to the face-down deck to pick (any) card.

• The lowest card loses and player must deposit a token to the pot

This lasts forever and is hilarious. Here are some tips as described by my girlfriend's kids, aged eight and six:

• If you get a bad card don't sigh and say something like, "aaaaghhhhh"

• If you get a really really good card, don't punch your fist in the air screaming, "YES, YES, YES!"

..and my favorite tip, described as a rule by her son, the youngest:

• If you get a card and you think it's really unfair and you don't like it, you can't cry.

new favorite place

I visited a friend on Bainbridge Island yesterday. I think I found the location of my new favorite place! Secluded yet close to the city, a small town with only a 30 minute ferry ride to Seattle, and a quiet calm beach to walk on even at high tide. I found many sugar stones, agates, and beach glass. Peaceful.. a great retreat! The pictures show a slight succession from sunny day to evening with rain closing in on Seattle, the final photo is the city at night of course! Thoughts and quotes from the day on Bainbridge:

Marion, not Madison

It's raining?

Discussing the incredible power of friendship

Cutting through the island from the ferry

Taking a quick tour of "town"

Wysteria Lane vs nature's own heaven

Walking on the beach with a nice glass of Cabernet

Now that's a big log

No, you keep it.. no you

Is that a whale?

Actually, I specifically made reservations for the whole library

MILF vs GILF

Yummy local fine dining
Is this an agate?

Crème Brule

9.9 is still pretty good

Shhhhh. The frogs will come out if we're quiet

"I do a great cow impression"
This is amazing

D.E.A.N.

Where did that wall come from?
Is this an agate?
Make a farm animal sound

11:35, not 11:30 - fphew!
Knock knock..

Deserted streets

secluded wonderland

Spending the weekend in a cabin on an island in the Puget Sound, sounds kind of nice doesn't it.


Well, it is!

I tentatively asked to come along on a girlscout's weekend retreat with a good friend in the Pacific Northwest and its been my best time in Washington state ever! The cabin is located deep in the woods and tall often moss laden trees absorb all sounds except for those directly around. Tides bring the water across a long beach up to the bottom of the steep slope at the back of the cabin. We would wonder across the new beach getting muddy soles searching for little crabs, cool oyster shells, and aggots. The girls were so fun the entire weekend sincerely wearing smiles and maintaining a high energy level to do all the tasks they were assigned such as: reciting their girlscout pledge, learning to tie knots, sewing special coin purses out of old juice pouches, learning to build a fire, building fairy houses on the beach, kissing banana slugs, making dinner for all the adults, searching for aggots and jellyfish..

Oh, you're still thinking about the banana slug kissing?

Yeah, that was kind of gross.

just parking the car and taking in the surrounds

walking towards the cabin..

saying hello to the troup

true team work

finding crabs on the beach

walkin' in LA

One of my favorite songs.. of course nobody walks in LA.

I am visiting a friend in the Pacific Northwest and we took such a great and long walk Monday. Everything is blooming out here and it's incredibly lush. The videos are a bit jumpy, but you get the idea!

beautiful row of bloomin' trees


meticulously manicured lawns..

things you don't want to know about your friends..

old beer cans

A friend called mid day and stole me away for a few hours to work out at the beach. It was cold and we bundled up not knowing the wind that waited for us there. This is a special beach and often used for working out. As we arrived a high school student suited up with a backpack full of heavy books to further weight him down as he trodged up and down the steps.

We did our 'laps' on the beach side of the dune as the front side was still blown over mostly with sand. We ended our step workout with a little walk down the beach. I spied this yellow feather immediately and only picked up the beer can on our way back with purpose of throwing it away once we were back in the parking lot. It is heavy. I thought something must be in side as it was so heavy, yet it was riddled with holes. Then we tried to understand why a regular can opening was cut into the top verses a push or snap top. This can is OLD! I think its pretty cool actually!

Next, I spied this possibly equally old fishing lure. I'll just pretend that's from the 60's as well.

invaluable gifts

I made cupcakes for a friend's birthday today, though my efforts were thwarted when the celebration was canceled. I wasn't the official party anyway, so it really wasn't a big deal.

To be honest.. they didn't taste that good either. I tried something new.. baking chocolate pudding right into the cake! It should be good, right? Well, perhaps if the cake was from scratch *you know the difference I'm talking about, and perhaps if the chocolate was a ganache and not instant pudding. Perhaps if I had frosted them, however the sweetness of the enclosed pudding might have made them unbearable to eat.

Sorry Gabby.

The birthday girl loved the thought I think as I dropped off this little plate to her house tonight, her family not doing anything for her save the handmade birthday card from her daughter. I told her it was because she's a girl and that she gets how we like to make each other feel special and special ourselves.

My neighbors certainly loved the rest of the cupcakes! A big thank you to Tillymadilly who suggested these acts of kindness.

My girlfriends are my most invaluable gifts.

i hate dating

I hate dating. I hate the wondering if the guy likes you and all the time it takes to get to a point where you can stop worrying about them liking you. This is the fun part one might say.

Not so much.

Ironically, I hosted a party for singles recently. Mostly I did this on a dare, but it turned out to be kind of fun. As with most evenings to local bars, I made a few new girlfriends. Do you know that only two men showed up to this party?! While I do know that single women out populate the single men in my state, it's still sad to see it thrown in your face.

I think we're going to have these parties once a month now.. though they'll die a quick death if more men don't show their faces.