August Review

While making my collage for August I kept thinking, 

"that was 2 weeks ago?" or "that was 3 weeks ago?!?". 

Basically the month has flown by. 

I'm noticing that a lot of my pictures are of food. Typical. 

I'm a little nervous about September because it is going to be PACKED. 

I'm back at work, the kids arrive Tuesday, I'm coaching and 

working on my masters degree, and I have every 

single weekend completely booked. Woah. 

I have a feeling the blur that was August is going to feel like nothing... 

This month's three most popular posts were: 
Twin Peaks Adventure 
Megan's Wedding 
Eggplant Parmesan 


Sorry I was kind of lame with posts this month.
I'll try to get back on track for the Fall :) 

Melakwa Lake

It's Wilderness Wednesday! 

 On Sunday I set out East at sunrise. Destination? 

Melakwa Lake 

 The trail is 9 miles, and passes over Denny Creek 

(anyone read Art of Racing in the Rain??). 

The above photo is of Keekwula Falls, which is at 1.4 miles. 

 Hi Emily! The trail climbs steadily for the first 3.5 miles 

and then you head down through forest to the lake in the last mile. 

 Here's the view at the lake. Gorgeous craggy peaks mirrored in the lake. 

And water so clear you can see straight to the bottom. 

Also...lots of bugs. That bite. Bring repellent. 

Great hike in the Aline Lakes Wilderness! Check out WTA for more info. 

Amor Fati

I've tagged this song on Shazam so many times 

that it needs to be shared. The perfect song on my 

morning commute this morning. I love it when that happens. 
This is off Washed Out's album "Within and Without. 

Happy Music Monday! 

Megan's Wedding

Once upon a time there were two little girls 

who grew up together in the tiny town of Montesano, WA. 

When these girls were grown they had girls of their own. 

Then those girls had girls, and that's how Megan and I became friends. 

Did that make sense? Our grandmas are no longer alive 

and we're not technically related, but we pretend we're cousins. 

 Megan got married on Saturday! Here she is with her dad. 

Not the best quality photo but I love the way he's looking at her. 

 The wedding was at Columbia Winery and it was beautiful! 

Check out that dessert table. Megan also has a brother, Brian, 

and his wife is a wonderful baker. She has her own custom baking company. 

She also has a one year old and I don't know how she found the time 

to make all these beautiful desserts and be a bridesmaid! 

 Megan's now husband is also named Brian, and he's such a nice guy. 

I'm so happy for them! 

It was so fun to be able to attend the wedding with my family 

including my aunt and uncle, who wished not to be featured on the blog ;) 

At one point I hit the nearly empty dance floor with my parents - 

hilarious and so fun! It was clear to see where I got all my moves. 

Day 365 (!!!): Bingo Karaoke

Tonight was another rousing night of Bingo Karaoke 

at the Greenwood Senior Center. This time I went with 

my brother and his friends. It was his first time going and 

I think he was probably surprised. I took a little video 

to give you an idea of how rowdy the crowd gets... 

In other news, did you notice what day this is? It's Day 365! 

I can't believe I've been taking a photo a day for a year now. Crazy. 

That also means I missed my "blogiversary" somewhere. I'm behind. 

I've decided that I'm going to continue taking a photo a day, 

but I probably won't post them every single day. Thoughts? 

Day 364: quinoa patties

Today I enjoyed one of my last few sleep-ins of the summer. 

Then I worked on cleaning out my closet, 

and in the afternoon headed over to Kate's. 

We walked to the store where I learned that the Kirkland Red Apple

has a "produce happy hour" on Thursdays from 3-7pm. 

Great deals to be had! 

We headed back to her apartment and made quinoa patties 

from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day. They were delish! 

Day 363: Brandi at the Zoo

 I saw Brandi Carlile with the Seattle Symphony back in November. 

I got to see her again tonight at the Woodland Park Zoo! 

Barb, Kelly and I went together. Brandi's a good one 

to see with some of your favorite ladies :)

Kelly smuggled in some delicious wine 

that we drank out of classy plastic cups. 

 Brandi and her band are just incredible live. 

Everything was flawless and her voice is so powerful! 

Here's a little clip of one of my favorite songs: 

There was a beautiful sunset toward the end of her set. 

I just love her! 

Day 362: painting

I finally got the urge to paint tonight. 

You may have noticed that I never painted more than one canvas 

for the painting class I was taking a few months ago. 

I could blame my busy schedule but the truth is I didn't feel 

inspired by any of the assignments and therefore had no desire to paint. 

Total bummer when I think about the money I spent on the class. 

At least I learned that a painting class is not going to encourage me to paint. 

You'll notice that my latest "studio" is my kitchen. The stove to be specific. 

I have the hardest time finding somewhere to paint where the cats 

can't get into my projects. A few months ago I had a lovely episode 

where Bobby got himself COVERED in paint and I had to try to 

wash it off. I ended up with stained clothes and some nasty scars. 

It's only a matter of time before they discover my new "hideout"... 

Day 361: classroom work

Today was the 4th day I've spent in my classroom since June, 
and everytime I go in there I end up making it look worse. 
I have been doing some major re-organizing, 
and by the time I left today it was finally coming together. 
I have had this poster of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" since college, 
but today it was made a bit more relevant with that speech bubble. 
Just one of the many improvements I've made in the past few days :) 

Day 360: breakfast for lunch

After all that partying yesterday I had one more stop to make 

before heading home from Bellingham...Alysn's house! 

I was a little photo-ed out so the only picture I have is a terrible 

quality phone shot of the delicious frittata Alysn made for lunch. 

It had fresh basil from her garden as well as tomatoes and cheese. 

Plus a yummy fruit salad. Wow! 

It was good to catch up with my Bellingham girls this weekend :)

Day 359: Stacy's Bachelorette Party!

Today was Miss Stacy's bachelorette party - can you guess the theme? 

We all dressed up as 50's housewives and spent the afternoon 

wine tasting around Whatcom county. 

We all had aprons, pearls, and pumps. Plus glasses of wine. Perfect! 

It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. 

In the evening we had a bunch more girls join us for dinner at Anthony's, 
and then we played games and danced the night away in downtown Bellingham. 


Stacy and Jason are getting married in less than a month now. 
Congrats you two! And thanks to all the ladies who helped 
make this fun day and evening possible. 

Day 358: dinner

I went in to work in my classroom again today, 

and decided to go home to my parents' house for dinner. 

My mom made a delicious salad full of good things 

and we topped the salads with salmon patties my dad grilled. 

Yum. Thanks, mom and dad! 

Day 357: Dulcelina

 Last night I went out with Kelly and Alex for an adventure in Georgetown. 
We had dinner at Georgetown Liquor Company 

(I had an amazing vegan BLT) 

and then we saw Kelly's boyfriend's band, Dulcelina. 

 The show ended up being outside in the backyard of the bar. 

Very fun! We took dorky photos. 

Thanks for a fun night out, ladied! And way to go Brad 

on your second live performance with the new band, you guys were great! 

Mount Pilchuck

Sadly it has been WAY too long since I last enjoyed a 

Wilderness Wednesday 

but I'm happy to report that I made it up Mount Pilchuck yesterday. 

Normally I am not a fan of crowded hikes, 

but for safety's sake it's the way to go when hiking solo. 

I got to the trailhead around noon and it was packed. 

I passed some hikers on the way up (miracle) 

and ended up sandwiched between two pairs of hikers 

going the same pace for the last mile or so, which worked out well. 

As you can see from the photos above it was a 

GORGEOUS PERFECT DAY. I planned that since the last time 

I did this hike it was completely fogged over and I couldn't see a thing. 

There was still quite a bit of snow but boots suited me just fine. 

Minor slip and slides were actually pretty fun. 

The only downside to hiking alone is that you end up laughing all by yourself 

when you fall. Good thing there was no one around to call me crazy, right? 

The view from the top was beeeautiful. Also, totally blocked out the memory 

of the scary boulders and ladder from last time. Good thing by the time 

you reach the top you're too tired to bother with your fear of heights. 

Until the way down...that took a while. 

Here is a little clip from the top, really only of one side of the lookout 

(there were people on all the other sides, and this was the view of the Cascades)

P.S. The song in the clip is Bon Iver's "Holocene", which I had stuck in my 

head the whole time. I love that song and the "I can see for miles, miles, miles..." 

part completely explained my experience. 

My dad called when I was at the top - fun to talk to him from there :) 

I texted my parents a photo of the view. 

Thanks to technology hiking solo isn't really hiking solo. 

I'm SO happy that I went on this gorgeous day. 

Amazing views of Rainier, Baker, Glacier, all the others. 

I love the mountains. LOVE. 

For more info on the hike, click here. 

Day 356: nut loaf

I've been a vegetarian for 10 years this summer, 

and I've never made a nut loaf. Until today! 

It feels like a must for my lifestyle. 

I'm happy to say it turned out pretty good! 

I had my momma, Kate and Carol over for lunch today! 

It forced me to clean my house (soooo needed), gave me an excuse 

to cook, and of course allowed me the opportunity to sit and chat with 

these lovely ladies. I made the above nut loaf, a salad, and my 

coconut cherry frozen yogurt for dessert. 

I will be sure to post the recipe for the loaf soon, 

but sadly I didn't take a single photo of the process today. 

The photo above was from my second helping once all the dishes 

were done and I was finishing season 3 of United States of Tara. 

I'm excited to go back to work and all but these two weeks 

of summer vacation are pretty sweet... 

Day 355: hiking for real

I went on a solo hike today up Mt. Pilchuck. 

It was a little rough since it was my first hike in 2 months 

(totally disappointed by that sad fact) 

and there was still quite a bit of snow on the trail. 

Although sliding down was pretty fun. 

I only fell once and it didn't hurt, that's the beauty of snow! 

More tomorrow for "Wilderness Wednesday" :)

Day 354: urban hiking

 Today was my first day back at work even though I technically 

don't need to return for two more weeks. 

I met with some other teachers to plan a presentation during the 

first week back about what we learned at the PLC conference I attended 

at the beginning of this month. Exciting things! We had a three hour planning 

session and then I entered my classroom...and surprise! The custodians 

had put all of my tables back and even put tennis balls on all my tables/chairs 

(the tennis balls eliminate the horrible screeching sound on my cement floor). 

Usually this takes me an entire day and it is painful tedious work. 

This is my fourth summer setting up my classroom and this is the first time 

this has been done for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you custodians! 

Upon returning home I participated in my new tradition, 

which I hate: 

napping on the couch for hours. 

When I woke up I decided it was time for an urban hike. 

I have not done nearly enough hiking this summer! 

I followed this route from the Seattle Stairways blog since it was so close. 

Those stairs quickly showed me just how out of shape I am...

 Here's the view of Portage Bay at the turnaround point. 

Day 353: street fair

 Today I accompanied Kelly to a little block party on Capitol Hill. 

There were lots of local restaurants representing. 

We had some delish Molly Moon's ice cream (honey lavender for me) 

and I got this giant iced coffee from the corner pie restaurant. 

 Kelly's boyfriend, Brad, was playing his first show with his new band, Dulcelina. 

They were great! They're playing Thursday night in Georgetown too. 

I was supposed to write a paper when I got home, but Bobby had other plans. 

He will not leave my side when I'm home. He decided it was nap time first. 

I ended up cooking dinner one-handed as he 

insisted on being carried around like an infant. 

I also wrote my paper eventually with him laying on one arm. 

Typing was a challenge, let me tell you. 

And yes, he's laying in front of my laptop as I update my blog. 

Sigh. 

Day 352: compost bin DIY

 Here's a simple and CHEAP way to make your own compost bin for the yard. 

All you need is a garbage can (I got this shorty for $12 at Home Depot) 

and a drill. Yes that is all. 

Step 1: Drill holes in the bottom and sides of the bin. 

Step 2: That was it. The whole process. 

Now fill it will yard waste and kitchen scraps. 

Roll it around every few days and keep it moist but not wet. 

Soon you will have lovely compost! 

At least I think I will. I'll keep you posted. 

Day 351: Twin Peaks Adventure

 Have you watched Twin Peaks yet? 

Kelly and her dad  finished the show recently so we decided 

to go on a little field trip to some of the famous sites in the movie. 

First stop was Snoqualmie Falls, where I must share the show's intro 

in case you don't know what I'm talking about: 

I had this stuck in my head the entire day, fyi. 

Kelly and Papa K in front of the falls. 

Me and Kelly in front of the falls. 

The next stop was the Twin Peaks Cafe. 

I go here every year for our annual tree cutting, 

but I hadn't watched the show all those other times. 

It was a was a whole new experience. 

We ended lunch with some cherry pie, a must. 

Kelly told me about this SNL skit, which you must watch if you've seen the show! 
Don't worry if you haven't watched it all, it doesn't give away anything :) 



Twin Peaks parody by Saturday Night Live (1990) by Malmignatte 


In other news from today, Kelly and I saw The Help. We both loved the book, 
and I'm happy to say that they did an excellent job on the movie! 
I sobbed, which is always indicative of a quality film. 
You should have seen me watching The Blindside on the airplane. 


Also when I got home I decided to take apart my couch and wash it. 
I'm happy to announce I was able to piece it back together and now
I plan to watch the Fire Walk With Me Twin Peaks movie 
until I realize it's probably too scary and go to bed. 
Happy Friday Night! 

Day 350: home sweet home

Today was my first Thursday off since the day after the last day of school. 

So much for summer vacation! Good thing I have a couple weeks left. 

I took care of business by getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist and 

getting my car serviced, washed and vacuumed. 

I also visited my mom and chatted for a bit. It was a good day. 

I had two GIANT zucchini when I got home from my trip, 

so I shredded some for zucchini bread and make some quinoa zucchini boats. 

I also picked some green beans, broccoli, and my first tomatoes of the year! 

They are supposed to be yellow, btw.  

The cats are SO happy to have me home. They have been following me everywhere!