What I'd be saying on Facebook...

1. I think The Help is about to land itself on Stuff White People Like.

2. Heartburn is like having little gremlins climb up your esophagus and yell, "BITE ME, you sonuva gun!" And I just whimper in reply.

3. The week after Camp Side-by-Side is also the week when I remember everything else that's still happening in the world: riots, bills to be paid, flower beds to stare at helplessly.

4. It's a hard to take care of oneself around people who don't know how to do that for themselves. Or who do it so differently than I do.

5. I miss Oprah.

6. Grocery shopping at Target is literally the opposite of watching Food, Inc.

7. Chicken: You are so disgusting when you are raw, and sometimes when you are not raw.

8. Marital satisfaction rises when all parties are doing their chores.

9. Most pregnancy trends have turned out not to be true.

10. I'm hoping most parenting trends will turn out to be unimportant: I'm not paying much attention to them because it's too easy to get freaked out.

11. I still love making new friends.

12. We are having a BOY!!!

I'll Stop Shaving Now

Attention, anybody who has ever accused me of becoming too left-coast!

I am going to LILITH FAIR this summer

in George, Washington.

You heard me. You couldn't really call me a lefty until now. It's like a feminist bonanza!

I'll be trekking 'cross the mountain with five of my favorite people. For example...

The Awkward Blogger. Known to some as SPU Librarian-in-Training, but to me she is the most prolific storyteller of them all. One time she told a story about a miniskirt, and it's all I can do not to tell everybody I know. She's that awesome.

Also hopping in the minivan is this delightful creature. The goddess of fine cookware and the friend everybody wants to have when getting married/having a baby/existing. I expect fine snacks from Queen Ice Cream. She is also a therapist, so she can judge you whilst serving you dinner!

Overall-wearing, Eastside-dwelling mommy of a boy named after someone famous. Once she was my boss, and even though that job was not remotely my calling, we stay friends. Especially because her child is friggin' cute.

Again, my friends are awesome. Best friend and former roommate extraordinaire, this Ta-Ta Saver will likely provide several coolers full of white sangria for the festivities. She will probably find a way to include tofu in the recipe, and we will actually like it! She also gags a lot. I sometimes think she's faking it until I realize that she isn't.

The leader of our pack and much cooler than this haircut would suggest, our Mighty Mommy. She drives a red-hot minivan, gives thrifty a whole new meaning and loves to interpret weird dreams.

So that's the crew! Stay tuned to hear about our very exciting, inter-generational road trip.

I Know I am, I'm sure I am

About a year before we got married (two years ago? really?), I told Dustin that I really wanted something that our family could latch onto together--a hobby, a sports team, a vacation destination, whatever. Growing up in the Harris house, we were pretty into college football, but then my brother wasn't that interested in it, and by high school it seemed to have peetered out. No longer a weekly "gather round" event.

So when I say I wanted something for Dustin and I to latch onto, I meant something along the lines of... our firstborn will come home from the hospital sporting a t-shirt from said obsession and will, later in life, want personalized license plates boasting "This is my thiiiiing." Get it?

All I can say is this: Be careful what you wish for. Because we (read: Dustin) have become so thoroughly attached to the Seattle Sounders FC, life literally has more meaning since the Inaugural Game on March 19. And I wasn't so sure it would be something I could love forever, but now that I've had three months to get the hang of it, I can proudly sing along:

I'm Sounders 'til I die,
I'm Sounders 'til I die,
I know I am, I'm SURE I am,
I'm Sounders 'til I die!

Here's what makes it so much fun...


We get to have an outing at least twice a month that is something besides a movie.


We get to hang out with some of our favorite friends!


We see famous people and their cute children.


We get to spend two hours screaming at the top of our lungs with 30,000 other people. Who also live and breathe Sounders love.

So it's not exactly what I expected, and it's certainly not what I know best, but being a Sounders fan has become something that is so cathartic, so community-oriented and SO much fun, I don't think I'll ever give it up. We have officially found Our Thing.

Learning, Learning

May was Bike to Work Month in Seattle. The Cascade Bicycle Club sponsors this big hoopla--t-shirts and water bottles and smack-talking online forums--and I unwisely volunteered to captain a team at work. Have you met me? Have I met me? This was extremely out of character. Not the captain (boss!) part, but the part about, um, exercise. BLECH. I hate to exercise! Who wants to exercise when you can be reading cookbooks? Or watching The Biggest Loser?

Each team member is required to make the trek to work on two wheels at least five times during the month. Today is May 31...I made three trips. Pa.the.tic. But I did make three whole trips, which is something. It's progress, right? And now I will share with you, fellow butterballs, the massive list of excuses I concocted this month. Chow down.

May 1: It's too hot (high of 75).
May 2: It's too rainy.
May 3: I hopped in the car and didn't even think about biking until I got to work! Oops!
May 4: My asthma is really flaring up today.
May 5: I couldn't remember the combo to my bike lock.
May 6: It's the day before my birthday.
May 7: It's my birthday!
May 8: I'm recovering from my birthday.
May 9: My husband broke my bike lock.
May 10: The trail has sooooo many bumps in it from all those rooty trees.
May 11: Crime is up in the U-District.
May 12: I don't know where to park my bike at work.
May 13: My team will carry us (this happened, because we won the contest).
May 14: My team will not notice (this did not happen).
May 15: Flat tire!
May 16: I'm running late.
May 17: I RODE TO WORK! Dustin dragged me to work on Friday night. This counts.
May 18: Helmet hair is not appropriate for volunteer interviews.
May 19: I'm heading straight to my therapist after work.
May 20: My husband needs a ride home.
May 21: I'm bringing cookies to the office, and they'll get squished in my messenger bag!
May 22: My messenger bag is missing the cross strap.
May 23: It's too hot (high of 70).
May 24: Cramps.
May 25: I might be pregnant.
May 26: I am so traumatized by that pregnancy scare.
May 27: I feel guilty that it's the end of May, but not guilty enough to ride.
May 28: I RODE TO WORK! And it actually felt incredible.
May 29: I RODE TO WORK AGAIN! Got v. sunburned.
May 30. Sounders game.
May 31: Helping friends move=biking failure.

Here's to grand delusions!

A Personal Matter

Today I was eating a popsicle on the patio at PCC in Fremont, just loving the fact that my job on Fridays includes exactly that sort of thing. Popsicles. And small children.

My darling Gabs, who turned two on Saturday, was sitting on my lap when I felt the need to, um, break a little wind. I figured there were lots of people walking by chatting, cars vrooming past, dogs barking, and the usual Fremont hubbub of activists and clipboards. No one would notice my indiscretion.

So lo and behold, the child hears my (very minor, very ladylike) toot, and says, "Ooooooh, Holly. Poopy! Poopy diaper! Change your diaper, Holly!" And she is not at all timid in screaming these accusations. The kid is loud. And she isn't a mumbler either, every single bike commuter within earshot turned to look.

Of course I chuckled along and said, "Gee! What a bummer. You have to walk all the way home with a poopy diaper. BUMMER."

She looks at me, sees straight through my cover story, and scoffs, "SICK."

This is Not Real Life

Only due to the most random of circumstances is it possible for me to stay home ALL DAY LONG cooking and watching the first season of Grey's Anatomy as I blend Cucumber Avocado Soup. But lucky me, I have a few weeks of this lazy summer left, and boy is it FUN!

Let me just give you a taste of how we're spending our days...

*Riding bikes to Fremont, Gasworks, Ballard Sunday Market and once, all the way to Madison Park!
*Making friends at the bike shop in Ballard (they are super patient with amateurs like us, and I think they even like us)
*Organizing my pink recipe folder once a day, then picking at least ten recipes that "I want to try immediately"
*Hitting up those farmer's markets like there's no tomorrow
*Receiving Kelsey's Netflix in the mail, only to see that they are the boring ones that I picked, and she's nice enough to put them at the top of her queue
*Nannying a lil' bit, here and there (Maya, Stella, Gabs, Nia, Gillian and Willa!)
*Geoteaming a lil' bit, especially when MEGUIRE is coming! :)
*Playing games--Imaginiff with our favorite friends (C and M)
*Scouring Ikea for workable furniture options
*Popping lots of Claritin
*Volunteering at the Baby Boutique, a FREE store for families who are homeless
*Working at the blasted apartment building, praying for the day when my contract as manager expires :)
*Reading every SINGLE update on the state of the Sounders FC, of which, thanks Mom and Dad and the surplus wedding budget, we are now season ticker holders
*Camping out in our new Hobitat 6 at the Wood Family Homestead
*Catching salamanders with Kolby in the moderately floaty raft from Guate (see the pic!)
*Applying for jobs with only remote enthusiasm (except for this one really fun one), since this summer has F-U-N written all over it

We are loving life, can't you tell? :)

Welcome to Summer

Here in Seattle, we're pretty much willing to take what we can get as far as summer goes. I mean, we haven't always been so desperate--practically the groveling ex who just can't stop CALLING--but this year of rainrainrainrainrain has really broken our usually weather-tolerant hearts.

So tonight, when Kelsey saw a gigantic mosquito in our cozy little apartment, it was only fitting that she announced the following:

That thing is DISGUSTING, but because it reminds me of summer, I'm going to let it live!

That's us, taking what we can get.