hot lunch

this was my lunchtime view today.

the sun was out.

it was not cold
(not quite warm but I'll take what I can get.)

and I'm excited about whitney and suzy coming to visit for a girl's weekend! they arrive this evening and get to stay until monday. there will be much eating, walking and thrift store shopping.

TGITaF
thank goodness it's thursday almost friday!

sunday sunny sunday

this weekend was all glory and sun and fun.

my friend carol's bridal shower on saturday followed by dinner with the girls at toulouse petit, a new restaurant on lower queen anne. FANTASTIC food! the parmesan grits will change your life.

and this afternoon brought peter and mandy for sunday dinner. the menu:

• beef stroganoff with noodles
• lilo's do ahead salad with avocado
• trader joe's par baked bread
• mandy's famous yellow cake with chocolate frosting
• and lemon water served in the trusty gurgle pot

how lovely it all was.

how do you measure a year in the life?

can you guess what show I saw by the title of this post?
yep, it was "rent"

my culture companion: danielle


the start of our evening: the paramount club
(complete with private bathrooms which was a super big score during intermission!)


the view from our seats

my review: AWESOME!
I sort of knew the premise of the show before going but wasn't familiar with much else. it was surprising how much I liked it, much more than I thought I would. there were even tears during portions...what? nothing of what I expected to feel.

a big thanks to shandel for passing along her season tickets for danielle and I to use. we truly appreciated it and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

spring can really hang you up the most

head over to danyelle's blog for a super fun, springy giveaway!

she was afraid to come out of the locker

my friend amy is going on a cruise and she needed my help picking out a swimming suit.

such a thankless job but very, very important I realize.

she ended up with this spectacular suit. a bit on the expensive side but it looks stunning on her. seriously, this suit is one of the most adorable I've seen on in years.


it looks pretty low cut but it doesn't seem nearly so low when amy had it on. not sure how it manages it but it covers everything and is ultra flattering. I just love, love, love the pretty ruffle at the bottom. the "skirt" can be raised or lowered depending on where it fits/looks the best. how accommodating.

the good news is that I found something too! it's not near as amazing as amy's juicy couture but it fits, flatters and was on sale. my favorite combination! bring on august, I'm ready to go to the beach now!


amy, have a wonderful time on the cruise and I hope john likes the suit.

(oh, who and I kidding, he's going to LOVE it!)

friends are friends forever

guess who I got to have lunch with today?

marilyn

she was in town and we took advantage of our overlapping proximity and met for lunch at pike place market.

it was so fun to see her and chat about everything...friends from high school, everyone we know who is pregnant, her kids/family, games, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

but we didn't even take a photo of the two of us.
how lame.

thanks for lunch marilyn! it was great to see you!

let's plan another visit real soon. maybe for a show at the triple door? or paper shopping at paper source in bellevue? I'm up for anything.

announcing the arrival of

samuel jeffrey
born february 7, 2009
3 pounds, 7 ounces

my dear friend angie and her husband jeff added baby sam to their (now) family of five. big sisters abby and alex are ecstatic to try out their fine-tuned sistering skills.

he arrived a tad bit early at only 30 weeks but he's a fighter. off the breathing tube and doing very well. thank you Lord.

I cannot wait to meet him!

be aggressive, be be aggressive

superbowl sunday is not usually a big deal in my house. I don't love football.

but I do love "football food" so party it was.

cindy and margaret came over to share in the bounty of new recipe attempts.

the view from the couch

the food table, it's small but it can hold A LOT.

the menu of champions:

guacamole - simply avocados with lots of fresh lime and salt
taco dip - recipe from my friend mandy
steak bites - recipe from pioneer woman
olive cheese bread - recipe from pioneer woman
warm chocolate chip cookies sundaes - cookies via classic toll house recipe

and we were stuffed and happy.

(but not with the game outcome, we were all rooting for arizona)

but all was well with the hour long episode of the office after the game.
dwight, you make me laugh...and cringe...and laugh some more. thank you!

lucy in the sky with diamonds

my lunchtime today was spent sitting with my friend margaret and eating tomato basil soup (with homemade croutons and a sprinkling of cheese) and a freshly made grilled cheese sandwich at beecher's (yes the same place I went with my sister on monday, it's that good) down in the market.

then, we walked out to a concert. it was the 40th anniversary of the beatles' final public appearance at an impromptu rooftop concert in london. we listened to creme tangerine cover the exact set of songs the beatles played during that concert. read more about that here.

creme tangerine was surprisingly good and their placement on the copacabana terrace overlooking pike place market was pretty fantastic. you can read more on this anniversary event and the appearance of ken mansfield here.

this isn't the best photo but the band is on the right side of the terrace, under the "Y" in "sanitary" on the adjoining building

big lunch crowd which is good for market business

it was sunny and not freezing. in seattle, that's a beautiful day!

if only I had a deck chair, a blanket and a hot drink, I'd have been out there enjoying the music and the weather for hours. thank goodness it's friday!

want some of my time?

while perusing my november issue of real simple, I read something a reader submitted about giving the gift of time to her friends at christmas.

it got me thinking. can't everyone use more time? even if it's not their own?

enter, me.

a few of my friends received this certificate this holiday season. as hard as it will be with some of us living states apart, I've already received requests for time usage.

angie: time spent walking and exploring places she's never been when she comes to visit in may 2009.

chandra: seattle sightseeing trip in summer 2009

what can be better than sharing time with your closest friends?!

mini vacay

I just spent a long weekend with my dear friend hailey. we met up for girl's weekend in phoenix. her last hurrah before her second baby comes. thanks to derek for watching vivien while we lunched and shopped and ate our way through one of our favorite cities.

our first stop, aunt chilada's. our all time favorite mexican restaurant. it was a little too chilly to sit outside on their fabulous patio but we made do inside with our flour tortilla chips, spicy salsa, and chingalingas. it was so good, we had to go back later in the weekend for another meal. heaven.

isn't the backdrop to the photo classy?

we stayed at a fabulous condo owned by a friend of hailey's. it was in scottsdale, near kierland commons. while it wasn't in an area well known by us, it was close to most of the major freeways. plus the condo was awesome! it had double masters which meant we had our own rooms and bathrooms. a big thank you to patti for her generosity!

we started our first full day out right, getting beautiful. we stopped in for a mani/pedi before starting our marathon shopping.

meet my new friend kosy.

then we hit hailey's favorite store. the proprietor used to have a booth at an antique mall frequented often by us (more on that later). since we've both moved away from phoenix, she moved out of the mall and opened her own store. the shabby look is so up hailey's alley...she was successful in finding some pieces for vivien's room.

not too shabby

inside shot

we spent the afternoon at the movies seeing bride wars (totally enjoyed it!) and four christmases (pretty funny in parts) and ended up at another favorite restaurant, my big fat greek restaurant. we dined on flaming cheese, spicy hummus and the best gyro pitas I've ever tasted. we were talked into dessert and it didn't disappoint. warm greek donuts topped with vanilla bean ice cream and honey.

the tzatziki sauce at this place is to die for. I've never found it as good anywhere else.

saturday was dedicated to the mother ship...

merchant square antique marketplace.

the best antique mall with the best prices and the best wares. don't get me wrong, I don't love all the booths there but I can find at least something I like in 85% of them! my prize purchase was a gift for my sister's birthday. sshhh, I can't tell you.

hailey and her box of treasures

I was needing to take a rest at this point. aren't these things fabulous?

quick trip by tokyo house to share our favorite orange chicken bowl and crab puffs after another movie showing,
this time bedtime stories (WAY cuter than I thought).

sunday morning was spent with my cousin justin eating a delicous breakfast at mimi's cafe and then I met up with my friend saundra and her husband for an afternoon of prosecco, pasta and prattle. this is where hailey and I split ways. she went with her friend karen and then took off for home. saundra and jeff were nice enough to do airport drop-off duty.

saundra and I worked together at NAI horizon while I lived in phoenix.

and just as quickly as it began, it was over. our time was wonderful and I am missing my friend already. thank you, hailey. for a wonderful weekend, for being a good friend, and for sharing my love of food, movies and shopping!

best buds.

love you.

tagged

dear marilyn has tagged me. what fun!

I was to post the fourth picture in the fourth file of my digital photo storage.

this was fourth of july 2003. every year, my parent's host a big holiday barbeque in their beautiful backyard and then we all walk down to the river to set up camp for the river fireworks show. here we are getting set up for the big show. this particular year, we had a large group with us which included our cousins who had just had twins which meant LOTS of baby time. glory be!


what a fun tag! it's wonderful to look back and remember such happiness.

I'm going to tag katie, traci and hailey.

guess who came to visit

my dear friend hailey lives in palm springs with her husband and daughter. that is much too far away I think. she and vivien were in washington for the better part of august,visiting grandparents and other family, and we hosted a gathering in their honor.

vivien

on the menu:
waikiki meatballs and rice
cabbage salad
vegetable crudite with uncle dan's ranch dip (hailey's favorite)
strawberry shortcake
mocha java punch

my mom, vivien and me

who knew the water jug and ladle would be such a distraction.
(note the lack of clothing. strawberries are kind of a mess. sorry hai!)

we could have played for hours I think.

hailey's mom and my mom

our visits are always too short. thanks for coming friend.
love you.

so happy

look what I bought today...


whitney and her sisters have opened an etsy shop. there is amazingly cool stuff there and I know they will be posting more soon. you've got to check it out!

good news

april 2009 is going to be a busy month for me.
I will be come an "auntie" again, twice over.

angie told me she is expecting on a friday.

hailey told me the very next day, on a saturday.

oh. my. goodness. they are due within weeks of each other!

I love that two of my dearest friends are expecting at the same time.

and I found that dandee is expecting too. what is in the water around here?

this "aunt jenny" is getting prepared, learning new songs to sing and doting on the big sisters that are super excited as well. my greatest honor is being the "aunt" to these children. thank you jesus.

nie nie day auctions

in response the the events surrounding my post and this post, there has been a blogdom-wide outpouring of support for stephanie and christian nielson.

thursday was unofficially deemed "nie nie" day of which people are making, donating, posting silent auctions all over the world with all proceeds to benefit stephanie and christian's recovery.

see design mom's blog (you might have to scroll down a bit to see the list) for a complete list of auctions happening now. most will close sunday evening so there is still plenty of time to get in on the action.

some of my favorites:
bracelet by whitney
artwork by emily
music by marilyn
awesomeness by jolly porter
custom sweater by dandee

but there are so many more left to explore. if only I had a bottomless pocketbook.

cjane is posting updates almost daily. her posts are brave, upbeat, and breathtakingly honest. this family will continue to be in my prayers.

please pray

I heard of this today.

nie nie is only my blogging friend. we have never met in person, never spoke on the phone.

and yet, I feel as if we are friends albeit over email and blog posts.

her family needs our prayers.

pray for healing, pray for swift recoveries, pray for children scared, pray for calm spirits and pray for the family of the flight instructor who lost his life.

cjane will be posting updates here.

a baptism of life-change

last night, my church had a group baptism and barbecue at golden gardens park in ballard. there were hot grills, firepits and smores, and lots of people. over 50 people made the walk into the cold water and started their new life in christ. it was really cool.

I have to admit that margaret, danielle and I totally know how to pack an upscale picnic/barbecue basket. I'm not bragging or anything but we had salmon for dinner. SALMON! and a fresh greek salad with crusty bread. want to know what my contribution was? the bread. I need to remember to bring both of them along anytime I want to "camp" (really? when would I ever want to camp?) because they were both so prepared. margaret brought a spatula and foil for the salmon and danielle brought real dishes and silverware for our dining pleasure. I brought bread. and some caramel corn to share. and diet pepsi of course. but the bread was the real standout.

whatever. do not expect me to save you in any sort of survivor situation. (otherwise known as camping in my world)

us girls have challenged ourselves with being more involved at church and this was our first attempt at socializing. it was successful so I have hope that we'll continue!

the person I long to be

my friend cindy shared this with me yesterday...

the person I long to be

the day light breaks again
another day has begun

but still no sleep has come
my body is weary

my mind overworked
I lie awake thinking

but what I am unsure
I need to break free from the cycle I endure

everyday is the same and the nights are undistinguished
I feel as though I am being pushed along with the tide

unable to break free from the everyday flow
this is not me I need to change, before time takes over

and I am unable to change
I need to be freed from the grasp of ordinary

and become that person I have always longed for
express myself in every way, and conquer the dreams as I lie awake

then I may fall asleep and put my mind to rest
make changes in my life and help those in need

I would like to touch everyone's life in a positive way
and leave my mark on society before I fade away

- victoria a. mogyorosi

in the company of friends

wallow: \ˈwä-(ˌ)lō\
function: intransitive verb
4 b: to indulge oneself immoderately <wallowing in self-pity>

this about sums up my friday night, my saturday night, and a little bit tonight. it all started with my friends margaret and erica. they were both having problems of the male persuasion and wanted to not think about it (read: talk about it). erica picked up the chicken pad thai, margaret picked up the ice cream and wine, and I had the copy of "say anything" for our pity showing.

margaret is the first one to tell us her funny dating woes while erica is the opposite. it's very hard for her to share so it was nice to provide a safe place for her. what girl doesn't just need to talk and not feel judged? I tend to be more like erica so I could relate. but we really had a great time together.

even with nothing really to add except for my lack of dating stories, I didn't think the wallowing would include me but imagine my surprise when all sorts of things from long ago came bubbling to the surface. those things have lingered, swirling around in my head like my own little fog machine for the past few days. I've been discussing things with the Lord but it's still hard to let go of things you've been holding on to for a very long time.

and, in true wallow fashion, I tend to dig myself deeper into it and spend time on things that make me feel worse. here is my vow,

I AM GOING TO STOP RIGHT NOW.

it is not worth it. it will not change anything. I will not feel better, and I usually end up feeling worse. I'm done. you are my witness.

oh boy. realization never felt so good. or bad.

thank you Jesus for my friends.

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You, too? Thought I was the only one.'" CS Lewis