Whirlwind Seattle Update

Before you say it, allow me: I suck! I know I’ve dropped the blog ball but it has way more to do with an insane work deadline and way less to do with my time in Seattle being somehow less blog-worthy than my time spent elsewhere. Here’s a whirlwind update of what I’ve done in the past month-ish.

Aerial silks

I found quite the aerial community upon my return to Seattle and took a few classes in West Seattle before enrolling in a 12-week program at SANCA in Georgetown. Between doing silks two hours a week and lifting a 25 pound baby about 100 times a week I’m getting positively ripped.

Ray and Jen’s 10 year anniversary/wedding

My friends from college Ray and Jen celebrated their 10 year anniversary on Friday, June 4 with a huge party that culminated in their getting married. It was a beautiful event and the highlight was definitely watching people smack the holy living hell out of the world’s largest piñata, hand-made by Jen’s mom. A close second would be Jen’s custom-made dress, though I was also very moved by their vows, especially the part about not only loving each other but genuinely LIKING each other. So awesome. You can check out their blog here.

Seattle International Film Festival

I love film festivals and SIFF is especially great, though this year I learned about STIFF, “Seattle’s Truly Independent Film Festival” which goes on for 1 week during SIFF, which I think is a testament to the Seattle community’s dedication to independent arts. My sister Tessa was a full-time house coordinator volunteer which got her into everything free and me some free tickets, and I saw a bunch of movies I liked. My favorites were all documentaries: one on Hugh Heffner (who knew we had Heff to thank for most of our civil liberties?); one on an aging gay couple living in Paris; and, the true runaway, a New Zealand film called This Way of Life. It made me proud to be human and if you can, you should watch it. (Note: If you want to see it, do NOT watch the trailer! It spoils the whole movie.)

Annie and a daytrip to Portland

My dear friend Annie flew into Portland from LA for a quickie trip and made her way up to Seattle for an even quicker catch-up dinner with friends. The next day I drove her and her friend Nathaniel back to Portland with a stop in Olympia on the way so she could see some other friends and Nathaniel and I could try out my newly acquired circus fabric at a local park. Annie always packs so much into a visit but it’s a testament to the value she places on her friendships and I can’t fault her for it. The two of us were able to spend some quality time along Portland’s waterfront before I drove back that same night to Seattle. I just realized typing this that I totally forgot Annie’s birthday so here is a very public happy birthday and apologies for not being a better memory-based friend!

Here’s Annie in Portland in front of one of the Rose Parade floats we stumbled upon:

Solstice

I love, love, love the Solstice parade and fair in Fremont. This year was particularly great. The weather threatened but never rained, I got to see the naked bikers, I played flip cup with Robyn and her friends in the beer garden, bought an indispensable $15 bag, went to a variety of parties including Jacob’s annual barbecue where I got to see lots of good friends, and spent some quality time with Tessa. It was cold but good. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to mention that it has been cloudy, cold, and rainy for going on 8 weeks. Apparently we’re supposed to hit the 80s tomorrow…

Clothing swap

We had a clothing swap at our house which involved a group of well-dressed women getting together with their old clothes, laying them out in various piles, trying a bunch of things on, then eating brunch and displaying everyone's new wardrobe items. It is such a fun idea and ours was a total success I hope to repeat twice a year – often enough to get constant free wardrobe additions and to force a purge.

At the end of it I took four huge bags of clothes to goodwill. Everyone got new clothes they’ll wear and got rid of ones they won’t – win win. Some people literally walked away with an entirely new wardrobe. Highlights from my pile include a vintage, knee-length, red corduroy jacket; a rain cape that makes me feel like I am an elf in Lord of the Rings; a yellow skirt and two beautiful dresses, plus several tops and a purse.

Here we are pre-swap:

More clothes:

Still more…

4th of July

This year’s fourth was identical to last year’s, and that continuity was oddly comforting. I started at Brandi and David’s country bumpkin affair before migrating up to my brother and sister-in-law’s annual party wherein he gets to realize his childhood dreams of making pyromania an event enjoyed by all. He is seriously committed to his fireworks show and ups the ante each year. He says that next year he’s going to do it all with an electric something-or-other which sounds like it will automate the entire show… here’s a link to last year’s show. This year’s video is pending, which I partially (and very poorly) helped shoot.

World Cup

I include this because it’s a very real event for a large portion of the world’s population right now, but frankly I’ve neglected it this time around. I have a hard time getting into it without a group of enthusiastic friends or a dense urban core pulling me in, and I don’t have either of those in Seattle.

I did watch the Ghana/Uruguay game and was disappointed by Uruguay’s lack of integrity with that overtime goal block, partly because I really wanted the only African team left to advance and partly because Uruguay was always a shining beacon of decency and order for me in the Southern cone. Once Brasil, Paraguay, and Argentina were knocked out (Latin America’s history-making was short-lived) it was up to Uruguay to make the continent proud, but I was thrilled that the Netherlandish underdogs kicked some Uruguay butt. Confidential to Uruguay: Karma's a bitch. I'm rooting for Spain in the Spain v. Germany game in the hopes that we can have two teams that have never won the World Cup vying for first place.

What didn't make the cut

I’ve left tons of things out like a hike with my sisters, some other parties, great meals with friends, a bonfire at Alki, and other titillating details on my full life back in Seattle. Sorry for the quick and dirty, and also sorry there aren’t more photos – more often than not I’ve had my video camera lately and we all know how bad I am at editing those together.

On the horizon

This weekend I’m going camping on Mount Rainier with Adam, Nick, and some of Adam’s family and their friends. The week after that my friends Adam, Lydia, and Elizabeth come into town for the girls’ 10 year high school reunion, and depending on how things shake out at work I might have all or part of the month of August free to undertake a West coast road trip. Details pending.