East Coast Catholics

Update 2/16 – 2/22

Headed to Marymoor with Becky, where we had a beautiful walk and then I dropped Percy off at daycare... and they totally gave him a bath because he was so dirty.  I felt really bad, but then again, I understand needing to clean him before you snuggle with him.  I'm actually not sure how it happened but I totally missed the memo about Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday, even though Bark Box sent me this obvious reminder.  A reminder that was cool in theory, but since I don't eat things from the sea, neither does my pup, so most of this will be going to Kelly's pup, Piper.

Torey: What’s going on [with your forehead]?

Me: Ashes for Ash Wednesday.

Torey: Oh! Riiiight.  You’re from the east coast.  There are tons of Catholics over there.

Zach: I just cleaned up Nate's party.

Me: That's cool - I just did his dishes.

Zach: Teamwork!

This is how I entertain my pup (or should I say one of them.) Meet the loopie puzzle, and it is one of his favorite things right now.

With Kelly's encouragement, I started following "thefatjewish" on Instagram.  He posted this funny picture which Kelly sent to her parents:

And then her parents send this back with, "Really does work great!"

On Thursday, I fell in the shower. The kind of fall that makes you want to throw up above all other reactions. At first, it was all I could do to just sit down in the tub and not get sick.  Then I tried to evaluate the situation, if anything was broken and then I thought about what would I have to do in order to call 911 if I broke my leg, was wet, alone in the house and naked in a shower including - would I be strong enough to pull underwear up over a broken leg, and why or why did I forget to teach Percy how to fetch my phone!

After I managed to get up, realizing I was only bruised, and ever so gingerly showered, dressed and into bed, I texted some friends for sympathy.  My favorite responses, beyond knowing that I was not the only one who had been in this situation were:

Kelly: I would totally come over and help you put your underwear on because I am that kind of friend.

Shana: On a light note a comedian talked about slipping in the shower, falling out of the tub, & hitting the kitty litter box.  When the firemen arrived she was lying on the floor, breaded. 

And no, I don't have pictures for this story.

Janette and Neville got me this awesome coffee filter from Vietnam on their honeymoon.  It arrived last week, with some condensed milk, and instructions written in the glorious handwriting of Jan-et-te.  I made some over the weekend, and it was like a dessert, YUM.  And yes, before you ask, I did wash it before I used it.  I almost didn't because I was so excited but then I remembered that they went to like 10 countries, over 3+ months, and probably could use a bit of a scrub.

We had a pretty fun team meeting at the Rhinehaus to play Bocci.  My boss snapped this shot of James and I in which James is really enjoying my company.

Over the weekend Nater had a friend in town visiting, and then they went up to Vancouver for a Magic tournament.  Meanwhile, I went to the dog park a lot, went grocery shopping, and went over to Zach's on Friday to watch some Elementary. 

Me: I've been wanting watch Black-ish.  Can we watch the first one?

Zach: Okay, but I'm going to be very upset if there isn't a pilot in this episode.

Sunday, Percy and I met up with Alicia, Kelly and her parents in Edmonds.  This is where I found cookie monster buried in the sand, and I left him there without helping him out.  And because I'm a super jerk, I took a picture of him first.

After running around on the beach for a while, we headed over to Kelly's parents new townhouse in Mukilteo.  I guess I didn't realize just how far I had driven when I saw this blast from the past.

The townhouse has some interesting angles and spaces.  The most intriguing was this Nook at the top of the stairs that is around 3 feet off the ground, and 6 feet deep.  We're thinking it might be where Kelly ends up sleeping when she visits because it does have an outlet to charge your phone.  I sent a picture to Dawne and Lucas, and they were thinking that you could create an opening on the other side into the bedroom and have a big fishtank in there. Or, close the space off, put a sculpture towards the hallway, and a storage space into the bedroom.  What do you think?

I know, right? It's like a fun little design challenge!

Sumo Thumbs

Update 2/9 – 2/15

(All beach photo credited to Kelly!)

The saga of the daycare continues... Percy had his friend Lucy to play with! He also shared his bookshelf with a friend, and when he couldn't hang out on the bookshelf, Percy found a new spot under the one of the beds.  Then, when that area got too crowded he weaseled his way onto the owners chair, and when all else failed, he managed to get some snuggle time.  When I picked up Percy, Tess admonished me for not telling her that Percy was a climber.  I didn't know I had to mention that, I mean don't all pups jump their way over fences and generally do whatever they want to?

On Wednesday I picked Diana up for a day at the hospital.  Diana, in attempt to gain some much needed poundage, asked for some fries.   When I got back with burger king fries and whole foods fries, her burger arrived.  Then, her nutritionist stopped by.  Now, Diana was a little embarrassed, but the nutritionist was proud of her.  I tried to make Diana feel better by reminding her that the nutritionist didn't even see the donuts from earlier, and she had already finished the BK fries before the meeting. See? So helpful. I also brought some games in an attempt to be entertaining, but it wasn't until I brought out the Sumo Thumbs that the nurses started making comments about not being used to so much giggling happening in the therapy room.  Win! (I mean, even though I totally lost at Sumo Thumbs.) 

Me: We're going to hurt ourselves.

Diana: At least we're in the hospital!

There was this awful smell at work, which forced security to come and open the emergency door, letting sunshine and fresh air into the office for the very first time - basically the best day at work, ever. 

Friday, Zach and I finished the second season of elementary! Actually, Zach wanted to go to a speed dating event, but I thought that only really desperate people go to speed dating the day before Valentine's Day, to which he said, "EXACTLY!"

And then Valentine's Day.  First, my Valentine made me a card at daycare.

And my Momela and Frita sent me some fun jam jams.

And I got three Monday emails done, while Percy slept on me and my Yorkie blanket (very meta).  He fell asleep after I gave him some steak.  Adorable, yes, but I should have poured myself more coffee before I settled in because I couldn't bring myself to disturb him.

Then, Kelly, Hannah, Piper, Percy and I went to Discovery Park for the first time. 

Kelly: I let Piper use my cell phone today. But I told her she can't get her own until she's 5.

While we were at the park, Percy ran lots and lots, until he got cold and just wanted to be held.  Only, he was really muddy and gross, so I only held him sparingly.  We kept seeing these little spurts of water that were puzzling until this little girl came up to us and condescendingly told us that that they were geoducks.

Kelly: Yeah, I ate one of those once.  And they look as gross as they taste.

Kelly took some amazing pictures, and we in general enjoyed the awesomeness of sunset, while applauding the couples who also thought of having picnics at sunset.

After that, we decided to start a little gathering of games and good people.  Nater and a couple of his friends joined, and so did Diana, Jason, and Kayla, who had flown in from Hawaii to surprise Diana.

Me: So how are you feeling?

Diana: A little nauseous, so I took a nap after we went to a party this afternoon.

Me: Right. So you went to two parties.

Diana: Yeah, I mean I figure I might as well go to two parties and pretend that I'm okay.

Me: Good for you! Way to bury those feelings!

And then today, I cleaned up a bit around here, did laundry, went to Marymoor and generally chilled.

Have an awesome week! 

Let's Tailgate!

Update 2/2 - 2/8

I don't think I've talked about / shamelessly plugged my friends' kickstarter yet.  Partially because they don't need any help getting funded, but also because I was waiting for the "homestretch" if you will.  Shane and Elan made a fun little card game, "Exploding Kittens" and in the processes exploded both kickstarter and the internets.  If you haven't already done so, pledge, like, and over-all, become a part of the awesome that is Exploding Kittens. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elanlee/exploding-kittens

Last week I made Shepherd's Pie for Diana and Jason, but I made three batches so that I could bring some to the Super Bowl, and so that Nater might have something in the house to eat.  Someone asked me how Nater was, and I realized I didn't know.  Our schedules are so different, that the only way knew he was still living with me was that I could see that the Shepherd's Pie was slowly getting eaten, and there were dishes left in the sink.  I suppose he also knows that I'm still living here because Percy barks at the end of the pier every morning, and his dishes get cleaned.  It's a system.  

Daycare decided to put a heater in the room with the pups, and so the bookshelf was unavailable to Percy.  They tried to comfort him with this Percy sized turtle shell.

Uber decided to switch it up and bring puppies to your door for snuggling.  I say your door, b/c every time they have this amazing cuddle campaigns, I do not get cuddled. 

I also forgot to tell you about a story that happened back in December, and so that I don't forget it forever... The night before Sean and his family were scheduled to go to Yankee Stadium for the Penn State game:

Jackie: Let's tailgate! We can bring my meat smoker!

Sean: We're taking the train.

Jackie: Oh! I wanted to tailgate!

Stacey: Do you even know what tailgating is?

Jackie: Yeah! It's a party before the party, that happens outside of the party. 

Me: I love that definition, and look forward to implementing at the very next party.  Could you imagine? You pull up outside of someone's house 3 hours early...

Stacey: The party doesn't start until 9!

Me: Oh, we know, we're just "pre-gaming."  Don't mind us. 

Carla: Pull out a couple of lawn chairs and roll over a mini keg, waving to the hosts as they scramble to clean and prepare for their guests arrival.  Some hot dogs on the grill...

Me: I'm sure your food will be great... but you can't expect us to finish this keg on an empty stomach can you? ... Ooooh! Is anyone having a New Year's Eve Party!?

On Thursday, Zach and I went over to Diana & Jason's for a farewell dinner for Elizabeth.  We played Zach's game over some pizza, and had a little tea party with Harper. 

After spying the name of the person Zach was texting.

Me: Katie OKC?  Did you run out of way to keep track of all the Kates and just named that on OK Cupid Katie?

Zach: I didn't know her last name when I first met her, but it's Katie XXX

Me: You've known for at least 2 years!

Zach: I know and she just moved to Boise. She just said, "I lost the screws to my table can you find them b/c until then I won't have a kitchen table."  She lost them between Seattle and Idaho! How am I supposed to find them!?

On Friday, I picked up some KFC (I know, it's not exactly from the outside of the grocery store), and headed over to Zach's to watch some more Elementary.  Tristan came home, and Percy "greeted" him by barking at him.  I explained that it was actually Tristan's home, and maybe we should make him feel welcome.  That's when he jumped up on the couch and reached out to Tristan for some petting.  Tristan sat down, and Percy sat next to him for more love.

Tristan: Well this is a first.

Me: He is actually adorable, but usually he's forced to protect his territory, and now, we're on your territory, and he's just hoping you'll let him stay.

Saturday was filled with around 16 hours of Kelly.  It was kind of awesome. :)  I woke up, and instead of texting, "Good Morning, Sunshine!" I texted, "Ugh, It's so early."  I picked her up less than an hour later to meet Alicia for a celebratory breakfast at Lola's.  We had a lot to catch up on, so it was much later when we left to pick up Piper and Percy to meet Zach at Marymoor.  After a nice, but very wet, walk, I dragged my friends to explore the real estate of the area.  (Just thinking about thinking about thinking about looking at houses.)  After that, we had some lunch at a pub like place that I've never been to in Sammamish.  This was followed by an episode of Vikings... during which Kelly fell asleep.  I shut all the lights off and took Piper and Percy with me to drop Zach off at Lincoln Square to see a movie with his friends.  I stopped and got Mexican soda on my way back - because I know how to Par - Tay.  Also, I think if you're going wake someone up, you should be bearing gifts.  That's when we watched the Minority Report and several episodes of Drunk History.  Do we know how to live it up or what?

Zach: I cannot find the Adderall.

Me: You went in there for Tylenol - though I can see why you would think you needed Adderall.

I wish I could tell you what I did with my Sunday, but don't remember.  So, there.  I wait! I know.  I met up with Kelly and her parents at the park, then I went to Target to get some organization stuff.  That's when I finally unpacked from all my trips, did laundry, assembled some storage things for my shoes, did laundry, and cleaned out the fridge and cleaned up the house for Jordan's arrival.  Now I can see why I originally blocked out this day.  I'm also pretty sure that some of the stuff I cleaned out of the fridge were items that Lucas had bought.  Whoops!

Me: “I’m sure missing you!”

Lucas: I miss you too – but I think Bill Frisell is the guitarist.

Hope you're having a glorious weekend!

Power and money - my favorite things!

Update 1/26-2/1

I'm sure you are shocked to hear that I am, for the umpteenth time, re-watching Friends.  At one point, Janice on Friends said, "Aren't you a puppy!" to Chandler and Percy just woke up and started looking around like someone was talking to him.

I'm not entirely sure that Percy is liking doggie day care, in that he shakes and pants on his way to day care, and then, every day he spent much of his day on a book shelf.  Here is photo proof of his secured location:

I can't remember if I told you this or not, so now is as good a time as any to say it again.  When I got back from my trip, there was a card waiting for me from Becky.  Not a Christmas card mind you, but a Valentine's Day card from last year.

In a delayed resolution-like style, Corrinne and I started walking at lunch.  We did this a couple of times, and we found a pretty cool railroad turned trail to do said walking on.  I didn't want to tell her, but my foot hurt a bit from not wearing proper shoes, and the fact that she pushes me to walk WAY faster than Kelly does.  Now that I know this, I've just left the proper shoes in my car so I'm ready to go at any time, but I can still wear the kool kix my brother got me for Christmas. 

I know that for the next couple of updates, my stories will be sparse.  Just imagine, every day, me coming home, opening my computer to finish a Monday email, getting distracted by Friends, and feeling like a failure, and you'll be caught right up.  The one weekend that I did get a bunch of emails out (and by a bunch I mean two), Elizabeth sat with me and every once in a while she'd say, what number is that? (I had told her I was 5 weeks behind.) Still #2 Elizabeth!

Over the weekend I met up with Kelly, Hannah and their parents at the dog park.  As I was walking from my car, Kelly handed me a bag with an extra battery charger and the cash I had forced her to take before I left her in Thailand. To which I said, "Nice. Power and money - my favorite things!"

Unfortunately, Elizabeth was super sick all weekend, and I felt awful that I couldn't do anything to help.  I was also just as certain that I was going to get whatever she had, given that we were sharing a bathroom, which is why I was very excited when I didn't. (Although, a couple of days off of work wouldn't have been frowned upon.)

Which brings us to the Super bowl! Doctor Rach and Anders hosted, making some amazing ribs by the way.  Seahawks scored the first time I went into the kitchen, and scored again when Dr. Rach went into the kitchen, so obviously that meant that someone had to be in the kitchen at all times.  By the end of the game, when things were getting dicey, I jumped up and ran to the kitchen - helping any way that I could - but I think it was already too late. 

After the Turbo Tax commercial that took place during the Boston Tea Party.

Hays to his children: That was actual footage.

June: Hey Shana, what are you doing?

Shana: Cleaning your orange (like you asked me to).

Jen: Where has Missy Elliott been?

Shana: Losing weight and slowly gaining it back.

Jen: Ah yes, and I see oversized clothing really does equal hip-hop.

I brought the Oreo's from Thailand that had a "serving size" of 4 all wrapped up.

Hays: This isn't what Jen thinks is a serving size.

Jen: A serving size is one row, three servings per package.

Hays: Our biggest argument has been over double stuff.

Jen: I wouldn't call it out biggest argument.

On Katy Perry and the number of prosthetic commercials.

Jen: She really trusts that rig.

Me: Wouldn't it be sad if she fell and needed new legs?

Shana: So hot right now.

Jen: Rachel can I use your bathroom or do I have to outside?

Hays: Seattle keeps the ball

Shana: Seattle pizza ball?

Jen: There are brownies over there.

Dr. Rach (looking very disappointed): Paleo brownies.

Jen: Also the makings of the ice cream float...

Dr. Rach: Are also paleo? Get out of my house!

Jen: ... Are in the kitchen

Shana knows how to bring ice cream floats to the next level.  She not only brought the best of the best ice cream, root beer and cream soda, she also brought makers to pour on top.  She is not kidding around (nor was she crazy enough to bring paleo ice cream floats - which was lucky for all involved.

Nater just walked upstairs and looked at me with disdain that I was still talking about the super bowl - so I better get cracking on the next Monday email!

More soon.

7 Minutes of Material

Update 1/19 - 1/25

On Monday, I brought Percy and Nala to be groomed, and then on Wednesday, I brought Percy in for a doggie day care evaluation.  My mom laughed pretty hard when I told her I was doing this.  I was a little confused because I thought the evaluation part was logical in that you want to make sure that the dog isn't aggressive or has social problems.  Now, the concept that I am bringing my dog to day care, that really is ridiculous. 

I told Zach about my new "eating from the outside of the grocery store" plan and he said, "Like Hansel and Gretel and the witches house?"  Not exactly, but just eating old gum off the brick wall would definitely be a change to my diet. 

I had heard that getting a mentor is a cool thing to do. "Cool" being a relative term.  I'm on this mailing list of women in my org, and someone emailed that group about peer mentors.  Figuring that would be a good, and easy step towards getting a mentor, I threw my hat in.  I contacted my new peer mentor a couple of times to coordinate schedules, and then drove over to her building for our first meeting.  After looking for her for 15 min, we finally connected and grabbed a focus room.  As we sat down, the first thing she said to me was, "If I had known that were going to be randomly paired I never would have signed up."  Followed immediately by, "I guess we can talk about tampons or something." 

I told Cassidy and Zach the story later that day.

Me: I mean she was nice, but I don't think getting rejected by a peer mentor set me up emotionally for speed dating tonight.

Cassidy: You keep saying she was nice, but the things she was saying, were not nice. 

We arrived at speed dating early because I tend to do that.  That was probably a good opportunity to be social, but instead we only hung out with each other. 

Me: I think I only have around 7 min of material.

Cassidy: 7 minutes? I hope it's not that long.

It was only 5 minutes, so we got 10 (11 if you count Zach, which I don't) dates in an hour.   The evening was fun, and 5 minutes is actually a great amount of time, I think would have like 30 seconds in between each conversation to absorb what had just happened.  I believe, because the ladies stayed sitting and the men were able to get up and move, the men remembered more about who each date was.  You can remember where they were sitting, you had a couple moments as you walked to the next date, to think.  The result was me scrambling to write down names at the end of the evening which were mostly guesses.  I will say this, if you were every going to go for an interview, speed dating is a superb way to get you prepped for that situation.  Being personable, giving a good impression quickly, talking about yourself the appropriate amount of time, and thinking on your feet are all required for a speed dating evening.   I was way more fun and interesting by the end of the evening than I was for the first two gents, when I was just warming up.  In some ways, the scenario is awful for someone who is an introvert because it's not enough time show someone who you really are and I would imagine the ordeal would be terribly draining.  Being an extrovert, I was totally energized and took that added vitality all the way to my work party the next evening.   I was still feeling very social, making it easier to talk to people I really never talk to at work.  In summary, Cassidy told me after speed dating, "the most awkward part of tonight wasn't any of my dates, it was listening to your date."

This is probably where I should talk about my work party, but other than saying that I stayed the whole time, and I managed to be super social (partially because of the added speed dating energy, and partially because I stood in a place where people had to work NOT to stop and talk to me), nothing majorly exciting happened.

I had every intention of catching up on my 5 Monday emails, but then my computer started running out of battery and for the life of me, I could not find the charger.  Instead, I went to the dog park twice with Kelly's mom (oh yeah, just her mom - Kelly was in San Diego.)  I like that she knew that she had to send reinforcements to keep me company.  Such a lovely, sunny, weekend to hit up the park!  On Saturday evening, Elizabeth got back from Diana's

While I was just starting to watch Downton Abby, so she asked me if we could watch all three episodes, which meant we didn't get to sleep until around 2.   The next morning, as we were getting into the car so I could drive Elizabeth to Diana's:

Elizabeth: I would feel bad about waking you up at 9 but you kept me up last night.

Me: That is not how I remember things going down. 

When I got back, I tried to sleep for a little bit, but wasn't very successful, so I made some mashed potatoes for Diana.  Backing up a little bit, Diana had stopped by on Friday, feeling pretty miserable between hives from the medication and open sores all over her tongue, she wasn't getting any food down.  Slightly obsessed with trying to find something she might be able to eat, I googled, and then grocery stored.  I don't know why I was feeling a little nervous and frazzled (probably because I wanted to help without being an intrusive weirdo, but never-the-less I did feel like an intrusive weirdo and ended up dropping many many things in my attempt to stock the fridge and get out of the house without upsetting anyone.) That was Saturday, so on Sunday, I made some mash and dropped it off at the house on my way to meet Kelly's mom for happy fun times at the park.  While I was at the park, Diana texted to tell me that she had been able to eat some brie, rice pudding and mashed potatoes.  I really must be a freak because I felt more accomplished with that news than I have in a really long time, and immediately called my mom to brag. 

Later that day, Percy and I went over to Zach's to watch some Elementary.  As I opened Percy's back pack, I saw the charger to my computer, but at that point I didn't have my computer with me so I knew that no updates were getting done any time soon.  And I was right!