just laura

Scott came up this weekend from Austin to visit me in Seattle again! Here are the details…

Well, we had a good weekend when he was here. We had the most fabulous hot tea at a place called Typhoon down near Pioneer Square. I drank so much of it I was hyper and peeing for days! Good stuff… fennel and other herbs that were supposed to bring good health. Yum! We also ate dinner with Dieter and Ross at a great place in the ID: Fortune City Restaurant. Double yum!! Afterwards, we got to see even more of Ross as he joined us for pool and drinks in Capital Hill. Dinner and pool is nice and all, but I was just excited to hang out with Ross. I hadn’t actually hung out with him since I moved out of his place last spring. It was good to see him and catch up… though I’m guessing it won’t happen again unless Scott returns for yet another visit. Sad…

What else? Oh, we went up to Vancouver, BC for a quick visit. Scott and I stayed at this cheesy little hostel with the world’s smallest sign… drove by the place four times before we saw the 6″ x 12″ sign on a door. Ah well. It was a warm bed and was, therefore, just right. Saturday night we went to go see the Clumsy Lovers play a show. While there, I met a lovely man who supports a lavish life style from the proceeds of growing and selling pot. He claims that in Canada it isn’t as illegal as in the US. He also contends that since most Canadians lost jobs after the mining and forestry industries collapsed, that 50% or more of the country’s people now uses the vast landmass to grow pot and have money to live on. He thinks it’s great that I do nonprofit work, but thinks the pay is crap. (So true). Anyway, he offered to buy me a house and lights and give me clones, if I’d only try growing weed. I wouldn’t even have to sell it, just water and prune plants, that’s all. Quite an offer, but I’m not ready to give up a nonprofit career to become a drug dealer. Ah well. Was still fun to be educated on all of the options out there, and made the show quite entertaining. Let’s hear it for meeting freaks and weirdoes, no matter what country I go to!

And the news for this weekend… my boy has a mustache!

Less exciting, but just as much fun, I completed my final service project of the year with my kids! It was fun, they loved working with the seniors, and I’m going to miss it so much!!!!!! Waaaaaah!

Today’s Monday…. in one week from now, I’ll be on a plane back to Texas to spend two weeks in the sun catching up with friends and family. Wohoo! Can’t wait to eat creamy jalepeno chips at Chuy’s, have a birthday party (I’m 25 next week!), see Rob Nash’s newest play, etc! It should be a fun few weeks home!

Hmm… recap of the weekend: volunteered at Gay Bingo (fun!), saw Rusty perform African drumming at Cafe Solstice (awesome!), and saw the documentary on America’s least likely porn star Ron Jeremy (rocking!!). Was excited to see in today’s paper an ad for Ron’s stand up comedy routine coming to Seattle… who knew we’d be so lucky to see not only the movie, but Ron in real life?!? He’s a legend!!

Last night was an evening of fun, country karaoke at the Little Red Hen! Erin, Alise, Moses and Jenn all came out for the festivities! Yee-haw!

Today was a lovely winter, rainy day…. Dieter and I made matzo ball soup (it is Hanukah after all)… yum! After lunch I went to the day care and put in a few hours! IT’s pretty bizarre working with preschoolers after years of working with middle school and high schoolers, but it’s much fun. :) Energetic bunch, they are! I needed nourishment after that, so we finally made it out to dinner at Paseo… Tofu con Gusto is the best!! And now, for the finale of a lovely day: we’re going to eat some ice cream and rent Pecker! Yeah!

Saturday was an exciting day trip out to the Pass into the beautiful snowy wonderland! We started off with breakfast in North Bend, the tiny mountain town Twin Peaks was filmed in, and ate at the cafe made famous by the TV show. The banana pancakes were great, but cafe itself wasn’t too hot. Alas. After that, Moses took Jenn and I to The Summit at Snoqualmie, where we rented tubes and sled down the mountain. The snow was falling quite hard and the tubing, while not quite extreme, was much fun!! I was just excited to get into the mountains and snow. Growing up in Texas, opportunities to get into snowy mountains for winter sports are pretty slim. Ski trips require plane tickets, lodging, rental, lift tickets, and meals ($1000+ for a trip!). Living in Seattle, skiing and boarding can be done an hour from the city, equipment can be borrowed from friends, and lift tickets are only $30 a day! Yeah! I think I’ll set a goal to go three times this season… there’s a $99 package that includes lessons, rentals, and tickets. Wohoo!!

Wow!! It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve blogged… guess it’s been hard since my parents don’t currently have a computer connection at home this holiday. Alas. There connection is now back up, and I’m online again. Yeah! So, holiday update thus far: Dieter and Charles conspired together and got him a plane ticket to Austin to surprise me for my birthday!! I think it was the single best gift I’ve ever gotten! I couldn’t have been happier! Dieter came in last Thursday and stayed through Christmas eve. Sadly, he’s gone to LA now to see his own family, but I’ll get to see him again just after new years. What else to share?? Ah, Suzan also came into Austin to visit for the holidays, but she’s gone too. I turned 25 last Saturday and we had a holiday party followed by my birthday party. It was good to see so many friends together in one place…. Captian Mike in town from Minnesota, Josh in from Savannah, Suzan in from Houston, Dieter in from Seattle, Beal, Chris, Alyssa, Katherine, Charles, Chris Busby and new friend Amy, Shawn and Dorothy, Samir, my parents, etc… It was a laid back evening and was fun to just hang out and catch up with folks!

It’s been a fun week, and we’ve done a good deal…

• Saw Santaland Diaries at Zach Scott (quite funny)
  
• Ate Tex Mex food: El Arroyo, Taco Cabana, and Chuy’s (love the creamy jalapeno!)
  
• Trail of Lights at Zilker Park (was coooold, but my funnel cake was warm!)
  
• Saw Rob Nash’s Romeo & Juliet at the Vortex Theater (work in progress, I think)
  
• Got Hedwig and the Angry Inch on DVD (yeah birthday gifts!) and enjoyed it with friends
  
• Ate Ice Cream at Amys, ate veggies at Threadgills, and shopped at Toy Joy
  
• Saw the sunset at the Oasis
  
• Looked for a mechanical bull, but couldn’t find one (if you know of one in the Austin or Seattle area, do mail me!
  

Saw a great movie today… Amelie. It was a sweet, beautiful movie! Makes me wish I was with my sweetie… though, actually, I generally wish I was with my sweetie. :)

Tonight Alyssa did the amazing… she kept a quiet secret and planned a surprise party for Chris’ 26th birthday! :) We had a crowd of people, food and decorations all here when they arrived home from dinner. He came in the door, saw all of us, and just froze. No emotion, just total surprise! It was great!! Got to see some folks I hadn’t seen in a long while… nice to know Jen’s dating a nice boy. :) For some of us, that’s a rare occurance, so when a nice one comes, it’s all that much more extra special. Congrats to both of us!!

So I don’t forget… future photos to be posted: Thanksgiving, Seattle, and Austin for the holidays. Look for them in early January. :)