La Vida Desconocida: Backlog: August highlights

I have a vague memory of August being the redemptive sunny month this summer. Here's what I did with it.

Pop-Up Picnic

Amber invited me to an event on Thursday, August 4 called the Pink Pop Up Picnic. The address was withheld until the day before, and the only details were that it would be in the Capitol hill area, participants should wear white with pink bling and bring a picnic to enjoy, preferably with fancy accouterments. It ended up being at Volunteer park on a beautiful, sunny evening which definitely contributed to the excellent turn out.

Here is our sweet set up complete with pink sheet, white lace table cloth, pink plates and napkins, and fresh flowers:

Here we are all decked out:

Amber and I had Pimm’s Cup in Mason jars, plus veggies and quinoa that Amber brought and a fresh corn salad that I made. It was such a warm night that people lingered long past dark, which if you can think back to early August you will recall that sunset wasn’t until around 9. It was a really fun event and I’d definitely go to another one. Here's the host thanking us for coming:

Blue Angels!

The Blue Angels fly in Seattle every August for Seafair, and I am one of the few adults who has lived in an area where they fly who still likes them. The Blue Angels should annoy me – flagrant waste of fossil fuels and taxpayer dollars – but my mom’s lifelong obsession with planes, things that go fast, and things that are LOUD has rubbed off on me and I can’t help but love them.

K lives in one such neighborhood and I’ve spent the last two years enjoying the thundering flyovers from her yard. She was kind enough to watch them with me this year, and I think my enjoyment of them might have rubbed off a little.

Nathan and Morgan Get Hitched

After all the planning and dressing up like Kurt and Courtney and making of decorations and more planning, it was finally time for the wedding itself on Saturday, August 13. I like this date because it means sometimes their anniversary will be on Friday the 13th. Sadly what would have been their first one is being ruined by a leap year so it won’t come until 2021- their 10 year anniversary.

I have to say, the day went off without a hitch. It was a nice enough day to see Mt Rainier from our hotel room across from the Tacoma Art Museum and a clear night with the moon visible. Everyone pitched in and worked together seamlessly, and the bride and groom were cool as cucumbers. Sweet ceremony, endearing toasts, yummy food, plenty to drink, and lots of good mingling. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Here is the set-up, with many thanks to Jen et al for realizing the light stringing vision Morgan and I had to a T:

A slightly funky picture of both of us but it's the best I have:

They had a hilarious photo booth set up; this one is tame but cute:

This was my first major event and I surprised myself by how well I handled it. During set up there was a line of people waiting to ask me questions but I never missed a beat, I kept things on track, and only almost lost my cool once when at the very end during clean-up I dropped a box and shattered the remnants of a bottle of whiskey and several vases. Luckily Casey and Joey were right there and swooped in with broom and dustpan, allowing me to wash the wasted whiskey off myself and take a few deep breaths. Not bad!

Once the wedding was over, however, I take absolutely no responsibility for the shenanigans that went down at the hotel.

Moving the kegs down to the lobby which Jacob cajoled the hotel staff into offering as an alternative to us being loud and causing complaints in the rooms:

My hair was Texas-style big when I took it down to go swimming; unfortunately I didn't quite capture it:

I was happy to take advantage of the pool that Jacob managed to get a guard to open for us at 2 am, though as one of two sober attendees (the other person was by choice; I was simply at a place where I could not get drunk after such a long day of being "on") I did feel obligated to monitor irresponsible pool behaviors and offer such motherly scolds as "water stays in the pool!" and "no launching each other into the shallow end!" all of which were duly ignored. Still, I more than enjoyed my long swim.

I didn't get much sleep that night and was mostly dead the next day, but in a good way.

Shanda Turns 40

You know how sometimes the friends of your friends become your friends? Well, Robyn has brought me a lot of good ones over the years, including Shanda who celebrated her 40th birthday at La Luna on Queen Anne on Saturday, August 27.

The evening didn’t start off very smoothly with the staff at La Luna somehow not getting the memo that the restaurant was closed for a private event – when we showed up it was filled with diners, despite Robyn’s constant contact and day-before confirmation with the manager. They stopped seating people and started giving them the bum’s rush, but not quickly enough, so there was a confusing overlap between party guests and diners for awhile. Luckily everyone had cleared out by the time the guest of honor arrived and it was smooth sailing from there. There was an open bar AND an open menu – a classy way to turn 40 in my opinion. Get your friends drunk and then feed them whatever they want! Luckily it was a nice night so we were able to enjoy the outdoor tables, and the staff at La Luna really went above and beyond to make up for the initial snafu.

Here is Shanda with our two accomodating (and sometimes fire-breathing) bartenders:

Robyn, Jacob and me looking fabulous: