Yum.

In case the crappy un-spring weather has anyone confused, it's definitely Memorial Day Weekend. And even though I'm STILL wearing socks, long pants, and my rain coat, it's a good time to remember the best part of summertime in Seattle: THE FARMER'S MARKETS! WOOT!

A couple of nights ago, I made a tribute dinner to all the glorious vegetable love we'll be enjoying all the way to October. Whole wheat pitas with tuna, baby tomatoes, and these delicious sunflower sprouts. Sweet potato fries (because they're healthy, right?) and sauteed Fiddlehead Ferns with buttery orange sauce. Yum, indeed.



Dustin thought it felt more like lunch than dinner, but that's coming from a man who eats with third-graders every day because they're all too naughty to go to recess. So lunch is a pretty relative term.

Yes, Carly, I Will Respond.

I couldn't say no to these emails in seventh grade, and now I can't say no on my blog. :)

1. What is your occupation? nanny, geoteamer, apartment building grunt worker,preschool teacher (GAWSH).
2. What color are your socks right now? I'm wearing purple and green stripes, I don't get to watch Clinton and Stacy anymore. Clearly.
3. What are you listening to right now? The new Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz duet. DUH.
4. The last thing you ate? Quinoa muffin with cherry jam.
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Maybe Dustin should be the judge of that. :)
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Red or maybe green.
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? The Hubster-to-be.
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Indeed.
9. How old are you today? 23
10. Favorite drink? Pomegranate-raspberry mojito from Palisade. GOOD LORD.
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? College football, but DW's teaching me how soccer explains the world.
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yeah, sure.
13. Pets? Are you kidding me? No. NO.
14. Favorite food? The Midnight Cuban Sandwich from Paseo, chips and salsa with ranch, my mom's chicken salad (right now, that would be really helpful, actually), anybody's best version of chili, gazpacho, spinach salad with bacon, Sonja's salmon, Haagen Daz...but that's just what sounds good right now. ;)
15. Last movie you watched? The Parent Trap I & II (the Hayley Mills editions, I'm a little embarrassed I just had to admit that)
16. What do you do to vent anger? Okay, Oprah, I know this isn't ideal...but I go find a really long recipe and spend a couple of hours coooooking!
17. Favorite Day of the year? I think this year it's going to be June 28th.
18. What was your favorite toy as a child? Magic Nursery Babies, believe it.
19. What is your favorite, Fall or Spring? Spring! Lilac season!
20. Hugs or kisses? Kisses.
21. Cherry or Blueberry? I have been known to eat blueberries by the handful.
22. Do you want your friends to email you back? Of course.
23. Who is most likely to respond? Meguire, since she now has TWO invitations. :)
24. Who is least likely to respond? Dustin.
25. Current living arrangements? With Kelsey. It's been such a treat.
26. When was the last time you cried? Right now, as I'm watching the Nate Berkus makeover for the sweetest Seattle family ever.
27. What is on the floor of your closet? My makeshift Rubbermaid dresser.
28. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? Mom.
29. The friend you have had the shortest that you are sending this to? Maybe Carly? That's so funny to think about.
30. Favorite smell? Fancy lotion. Stella Sophia Virzi's blond hair.
31. What inspires you? Reading stories about really plain people who have made really extraordinary choices.
32. What are you afraid of?
33. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Hello, I'm marrying the KING OF QUESO.
34. Favorite car? Well, until Jen Orr inspired me to buy a Prius, it was a Mini.
35. Favorite cat breed? This is worse than the general pet question.
36. Favorite dog breed? Same.
37. Favorite horse breed? The ones with big feet.
38. Number of keys on your key ring? Too many.
39. How many years at your current job? I don't have any real jobs, just several random ones.
40. Favorite day of the week? Saturday.
41. Today’s date and time: Thursday, May 22, 2008 10:03pm

Cloudstreet

"I just relived Cloudstreet."

These are the words Dustin told me the night before we handed in a ten-page paper on the most incredible novel OF OUR TIME. So naturally, I went ahead and relived it too; page by underlined page, I walked back through my favorite story. Oh, and two hours later I finally got around to writing about it.

And now, just in time for the summer of reading-palooza, Tim Winton, the writer of our favorite story, is coming to Seattle. For a reading. From his new book, Breath. Clearly, we will all be going.

You know who you are.

So much to tell!

Since I'm feeling a bit whelmed (name that 90's flick, ready, go!) by all the ahem, writing material from the past week and a half, I thought I'd just steal Kelsey's post from a few nights ago. It made me laugh so hard, I went back and read it about twelve times.

Here's what she said:

Let me tell you about a little evening ritual that the roommate and I have. Holly gets ready for bed around 10:00 (she is a very responsible adult) and I usually join her in our HUGE (and by huge I mean, when Holly has her glasses off we run into each other) bathroom for this event.

This evening we were getting ready for bed, using our new sonicare toothbrush, discussing how to save the world, you know the usual. I was wearing a white shirt and noticed that my hands look quite tan (I just spent a week in CA at a friend's wedding. To be blogged about later and possibly with pictures). While I was admiring my new hue I asked Holly "are you jealous that I am so tan right now?"

I thought I was SO funny and laughed pretty hard for awhile. Holly continued to mock the other times I have asked her similar questions. They usually go something like this. "Holly are you jealous that I can put basically any hair product in my hair and it will come out with those great 'fresh from the beach' waves?" Or, "Holly are you jealous that I can avoid taking a shower for at least three days and not have greasy hair?"

I realize that this post may make me look like a pretty vain bitch. The truth is I am not obsessed with these things. I check out my hair in the morning and whatever happens, happens. These little exchanges between Holly and I are just a way of saying "Hey, we don't hate our bodies." On most days we think they are pretty great. There are features about Holly that I am jealous of (the fact that you can actually see her eyes in pictures), but we don't spend a lot of time dwelling on it. At the end of the day our bodies are not what they look like, it is what they do. They allow us to learn, to care, to adventure, to love, to reflect a good Creator. Those things are worth dwelling on.

Go read the rest of her life right here.

Be Ye Not So STUPID.

Well. Well, well, well.

I guess I should start by saying this--my birthday was wonderful, complete with good blog wishes, a fabulous dinner at Palisade, new PEARLS from DW, and a birthday cake in a flower pot. That said, today has been considerably less pleasant.

If you're planning to drive down Aurora at 51 mph in a 40 mph zone, BE WARNED. There is a very cranky cop in a how-does-SPD-afford-cars-so-sporty ride who really likes to write innocent people big tickets.

And when I say big tickets, I mean $370.00 big. That's correct. Speeding, combined with expired out of state license plates (the new ones were literally in my trunk, I swear), leads to huuuuuuuuge penalties. This fiasco led to some extremely high tensions in the car (I said the f-word, no kidding), and a temptation to throw an iPhone out the window, but I did refrain.

Also, we were driving to Dustin's surgery (wisdom teeth). Blood pressure gush pre-surgery? Couldn't have been good for him.

And finally, I made Dustin a very involved cheese soup, to you know, nurse him back to health. But my cheese soup turned into more of a curdled, non-creamy, indescribable disaster. Sick. So now we're poor, hungry, and humbled. Blech.

And be gracious to you...

So I had a thought. Maybe, for the more difficult people in my life, showing grace and abundant love means not downplaying the crappy moments, but not letting them get to me. I'm going to try out this meaning and method of grace. I'll keep you (all ten thousand readers of you) posted.

Birthday Wishes.

So much has happened this twenty-second year of life.

Finished school.
Cried at Ivy Cutting.
Settled on a wonderful place to have our wedding.
Moved out of a lively, memory-filled house at SPU.
Rafted down a river with some of my favorite people in life.
Played at Camp Side-by-Side with Ashley and a pack of amazing survivors.
Started my first real job.
Gave out coffee and coffee filters to some of the world's foremost geneticists.
Came home crying, quit my first real job.
Moved into my first apartment (goodbye, big ol' houses).
Saw Teatro Zinzanni with DW, delighted.
Spent my first Christmas away from my family.
Traveled to a wonderful village in the mountains of El Salvador.
Made some wonderful friends at church, felt very loved.
Cried at sad news.
Visited old friends in Colorado.
Started a wedding countdown.
Fell in love with Seattle again.
Grew up a lot, gained a lot of perspective, let go of lots, looked forward to even MORE.

Here's to a great twenty-third year!