just laura

This weekend was spent connecting with friends at Laura and Ajit’s third wedding extravaganza. Many of you probably don’t know the folks and therefore don’t care about the long, long list of people that showed up from the four corners of the country. I’ll spare y’all those details. And you probably don’t care about how many folks were married or engaged or living with their partner since the last time I saw them so we won’t mention them all by name. You might not care about just how many folks were there from HS, college, work, or Houston. And you might not care about just how beautiful my friends are.

I will say, however, that it felt pretty amazing to be surrounded by such a great group of people. It felt fantastic to joke around so much and laugh, laugh, laugh. It felt fantastic to reminisce about the good old time and laugh at the crazy days of our past. It felt fantastic to dance like a banshee and keep dancing till I was dizzy. Oh, and the hugs. I got sooo many amazing hugs, and squeezes, and kisses, all from friends who felt so comfortable. They felt like home. There were times over the weekend that I couldn’t believe my friends were that fun, that beautiful, that amazing. And then more would call or walk into the room and I’d have to tuck away my sappy thoughts for later and just enjoy the moment being surrounded by close friends.

When I got into my shuttle yesterday morning to take me home from the airport to my apartment, the driver asked where I had visited. I told him sunny and warm Texas. I was referring to the weather but he responded with “Welcome back to introverted Seattle.” So true, so true indeed.

Helen Prejean, SJ Founder, Moratorium Campaign & Author
Dead Man Walking – The Journey Continues

Kane Hall, room 130. Admission is Free and free ticket is required (contact the University Bookstore).

Sr. Helen Prejean has served on the board of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from 1985–1995, and has served as Chairperson of the Board from 1993–1995. She is also a member of Amnesty International and an honorary member of Murder Victim Families for Reconciliation. She presently is the Honorary Chairperson of Moratorium Campaign, a group gathering signatures for a world-wide moratorium on the death penalty. On December 18, 2000 S. Helen, Paul Hoffman, board member of Amnesty International and Mario Marizziti, representative of The St. Egidio Community in Rome, Italy presented Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the U.N. with 2.5 million signatures from people all over the world who are calling for a moratorium on the death penalty.

Sister Helen was born on April 21, 1939, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille in 1957 and received a B.A. in English and Education from St. Mary’s Dominican College, New Orleans in 1962. In 1973, she earned an M.A. in Religious Education from St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Canada. She has been the Religious Education Director at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in New Orleans, the Formation Director for her religious community, and has taught junior and senior high school students.

She began her prison ministry in 1981 when she dedicated her life to the poor of New Orleans. While living in the St. Thomas housing project, she became pen pals with Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers, sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana’s Angola State Prison.

Upon Sonnier’s request, Sister Helen repeatedly visited him as his spiritual advisor. In doing so, her eyes were opened to the Louisiana execution process. Sister Helen turned her experiences into a book that not only made the 1994 American Library Associates Notable Book List, it was also nominated for a 1993 Pulitzer Prize. Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States was number one on the New York Times Best Seller List for 31 weeks. It also made the International Best Seller List and has been translated into ten different languages.

I’m on day three of the conference in Washington DC and I’m surviving better than I’d thought. :) I’ve lead two training workshops and am additionally the facilitator for the whole conference. I wasn’t exited (at all!) about speaking in front of a crowd of 200 people all day long, but am actually pretty content now. I’m not saying I’m a great public speaker (I’d never claim that), but I know it’s my fate for the weekend so no sense stressing out. Might as well enjoy it. It’s been busy so far, but hopefully we’ll find a little time where we can go see the sights and experience the city. Hope y’all are well!

Just wanted to send wishes for a few February birthdays before I forget! Andy’s is today on the 22nd, Kat is on the 26th, and my brother will hit the big three-oh on the 25th! Yay!! And on that note… I’m home from DC, exhasuted, and ready for bed. G’night.

Congrats to my cousin Prentice and her husband Mark! They’re the proud parents of a brand new baby boy! Look for a photo to come sometime soon (hopefully!). :)

It’s official: One of my oldest and best friends has proposed to his girl friend and she accepted! I’m feeling a bit protective (less than enthusiastic?) as Charles hasn’t known her for long (about 90 days), but he says they both knew almost instantly. I have lots of arguments for waiting longer, but can’t easily argue against the whole “love at first sight” idea. While I can’t personally confirm it’s existance, I am told it happens.

So, Charles my dear, you deserve the best. I wish you all the happiness in the world.

Phillustrations Photography at Black Box Gallery (1 night only!)
Friday, February 25th – 7-10 PM

Parking is available on Aurora, in front of the gallery. Or you can also park on 49th.
The artist will be in attendance.
The artist will pose for pictures and sign autographs.
The artist will pour you a glass of wine. (If you get there before it runs out)

Is 64°F a record high for us in February? The cherry trees are in bloom way early, some daffodils are already blooming too, and that all means the tulips can’t be far behind. It really doesn’t feel like winter to me when I get to wear short sleeves and sandals in February! Doesn’t it make you want to visit the beautiful Northwest? Uh huh, you know you want to visit. As always, my couch is open if you’re interested…

Happy birthday to my brother Charlie who turns 30 today (the card’s in the mail)! And happy belated birthday to Steph, whose birthday was yesterday. I had made cupcakes to surprise her on Wed, but she bailed last minute on Girls Craft Night and missed out on her birthday treats. Alas… happy birthday anyway!

Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak has asked parliament to change the constitution to allow multiple candidates in presidential polls. You read that right… Egyptians actually get to pick from multiple candidates now. Read about it on the BBC: Egypt announces democratic reform

Hosni Mubarak is Egypt’s longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali in the early 19th Century and one of the longest-serving leaders in the Arab world (20+ years). And this week he announced, for the first time, that they’d open up elections to more than one candidate. For a country that controls rent in the housing market, has no freedom of speech or assembly, is run under a military state, has an economy that relies on baksheesh (bribes/tips) to get anything done, requires mandatory military service for men, and has government run media, this is monumental and impressive and long overdue! Viva Egipto!

Samantha and I hit the thrift stores yesterday in search of the perfect bridal gowns and accessories. We picked out some pretty entertaining bridal finds at Value Village and Goodwill, and our final stop of the day was at Red Light where Sam and I bemoaned the hoards of cute hipster boys that roam Capital Hill. Neither of us has dated hipsters, but that doesn’t mean we can’t drool over them. Well, who’d have guessed we’d both end up in an “I Saw You” ad a few hours later? I’m the brown hair pink shirt girl mentioned, but Samantha is the target of the ad (not unusual as she’s quite a cutie). Alas… I seem to always the bridesmaid and never the bride. :)

“red head at the Red Light – m4w

i really hope you read these things. you were with another girl — brown hair, pink sweatshirt. you had a cute striped scarf around your neck. we made eye contact a few times and smiled. i should have introduced myself….”

Best I know, Seattle’s only got one FREE taxi service in town… with the baby blue paint, plush purple interior, and original genuine Checker cab frame (from the Checker Motors Company founded in 1922). My buddy Jacob is the founder, and his cab needs some love. Come to the fundraiser on March 12 (with BBQ, live music from local bands, and other excitement yet to be announced). Or, just make a donation online for this worthy good cause. Find out more at http://freeridecabs.com.

Four years ago today I started my morning like I still start most of my mornings. I sat at the computer and checked my email like I generally do each day before work. That morning I was impressed that my roomie was not only up early, but was also playing with the cats and giving them much needed attention. At least, I assumed that’s what all the noise was at that hour of the morning. (When you have a basement room and above you there are hard wood floors, it can be kind of loud, ya know?) Of course, when the noise and rumbling continued, and when the lamp fell, and the bookshelf crashed to the ground, and the bucket of water outside near the plants started sloshing around, I quickly put 2 and 2 together. It wasn’t Ross upstairs playing with the kitties making noise in the morning… it was the Nisqually earthquake. The rumbles eventually stopped, I was a little shaken, and I ran to the stairs to check the rest of the house. That’s when I saw my roomie in his undies bracing himself in the doorframe for safety. Quite memorable. He rushed to work to check on his office, leaving me home on my own to fret about aftershocks. Let’s recap my first month in Seattle, shall we? We had a freak snowstorm (with enough snow to weight down a tree branch until it broke and fell into my windshield). We had a riot at a Mardi Gras celebration that ended with cars being overturned, fires in the streets, and a couple of people dead. And we had an 6.7 magnitude earthquake with $4 billion in damage.

I was new in town, just barely learning about Seattle’s mountains and lakes, and I had no clue at the time that Washington state had the second-highest risk of earthquake in the United States. It was quite a fun “Welcome to Seattle” series of events for my first month in town! I figured with excitement like that, I’d have to stick around here just to see what else the city had up its sleeve.