just laura

I turned on my old laptop tonight to get a file from my machine. Seems I had a pile of blog posts I never actually put up, so we’ll try to get to that soon. Please excuse the belated thanks on this post from May…

I got home from MN & WI last night and was delighted to find a package in the mail from Alyssa! What fantastic delight arrived while I was gone? A limited edition two disc KGSR CD set! I listened to it in the car today and it’s great. Thanks Alyssa!

Along the same lines of “life is busy as always…” It seems to be a reoccurring theme when I reflect on each week, and I’m wondering to myself when it going to not be quite so busy like this? When does life slow down a little? I had good mtgs with my executive director two weeks ago when I got back in town from South Dakota, but we need to continue the talks. I’m going to meet with her again next week… I’ll fly all the way out there to Boston. I booked my ticket for the only two days that worked for her, which TRAGICALLY included the night of our next group photo show on First Thursday. Yes, Caroline and I are helping organize another group gallery show, this time at Caroline’s fantastically hip Pioneer Square gallery for the First Thursday Art Walk. My flight on Continental arrives at 10:55pm and I’m quite sure the art walk would be more than done by the time I arrive. It looks like I’ll miss the show… what a sad, busy world.

On the bright side (and there generally is a bright side), we decided to hang the pics nice and early. This saved Caroline from having to transport and hang them all on her own… and it meant I could be a part of the event and see all of the pics even if I’m out of town during the actual opening. After the hanging party, we went out for dinner and drinks in Pioneer Square, followed by drinks at the Bus Stop (it lives up to all the hipster hype!), followed by dancing at Neighbors. The music was better at the Bus Stop, but dancing at Neighbors was still fantastic. And can you guess who we ran into there?! C’mon Beal… c’mon Dieter… guess! None other than my old neighbor Chad!! I thought it might be him… but people grow up so much from 19-24… boys kind of fill out and mature, ya know? I couldn’t tell from across the room, but we ended up dancing side by side at some point and I leaned over and said “Are you Chad?!” And he replied “Ahhhhh! Are you Catherine?!” It was great and was followed by hugs and kisses and catching up and dancing! He’s still very thin, and definitely looking older and healthier. :) Was so great to see him, and so great to see friends after a long and tiring week.

Let’s hear it for the start of a nice holiday weekend…

I decided Saturday morning to do a last minute road trip to Canada to take full advantage our of three day Independence weekend. Samantha willingly joined me for the trip and for her first ever trip outside the country! Yay Canada, yay Canucks, and yay entertainment!! I’ll have to post pics eventually. For now, you should know that I bought a dress for my HS reunion, got waved at by firemen in their big red truck, spent some time laying on the beach, went to the Night Market in Chinatown, hung out at my new favorite Granville bar with the best name ever (el Furniture Warehouse), and ate some yummy vegetarian fare… The Naam and Hon’s on Robson. Life in Canada = the good life.

Tonight I plan to clean my apartment and wash my car and unpack/pack fo my trip to Boston on Tuesday. :) Hope y’all are well!

Update: I instead decided to hit the pool with my roomie, then went to a BBQ at a friend’s place. I got a flat tire leaving there and the wonderful boys happily jumped right up to fix it (honest, they’re too nice to me). I’m now home and need desparately to finish up paperwork before tomorrow, and need to finish making signs for the photo show by tomorrow, and need to frame a few prints. Whew! Guess packing will have to be a last minute affair tomorrow evening.

My tiny replacement tire

A big hearty justlaura welcome to new reader S. She didn’t know I had a site and didn’t know I had a first name, but just stumbled upon the site, figured out the name and the connection within a few minutes, and confronted me in person shortly thereafter. :) Yep, I do go by my middle name. Yes, my first name really is Laura. Yes, different people in different places call me different things. Also a big hearty welcome to her bf CE who helped change my flat tire tonight. It was my first Honda flat tire, which should be sad but I was just excited it happened at their house and not in the middle of nowhere on the drive home from Vancouver. Happily, the boys are all too nice and were totally willing to change my tire. (Yay big strong boys!). Sadly, since I’m going out of town tomorrow I’m not really sure when I’ll have time to get it fixed and get the tiny little spare off of it. I haven’t even made a claim yet on the dent from the trash can outside of Neighbors a few months back. Arg. Timing = hard = busy as usual. I think I need a vacation.

Ex-boyfriend Chris called today with the news that they’re moving again! Happily, they’re not leaving Texas until after I’m home next month, but still. It seems like he moves more than most people I know… Texas to New England to Texas to Boston to Texas… maybe with a few more New Englands thrown in there. Their upcoming move will be from Austin to Los Angeles at the end of July… cementing my need to visit LA sometime in the next few months. I really want to spend some time with my old roomie Meg, I’d love to see Scott who moved just a few months ago to be with his girlfriend Z, Lincoln’s there as an added bonus, and now Chris, Aimee, and baby Cathryn will be there too. Who knew LA was becoming so popular for former Austinites?

Phil, me, my photo, Brad

Friday night Phil and Brad helped hang my photo (see above courtesy of Samantha) and many others at our gallery space in Pioneer Square. Caroline and I helped organize another group gallery show and the group will be showing work at First Thursday. That’s right… the gallery show is going to be this Thursday in Pioneer Square. Be sure to bring your friends and neighbors to see my photo above and many more by great local photographers! I can’t make it (since I’ll be in Boston), but I hope everyone else can be at the event and say hello to the crowd on my behalf.

Place: 619 Western (at Yesler), 5th floor
Time: Thursday 6-10pm
Most important stuff: Free wine & snacks & live DJ

My first trip to Cape Cod was very nice… a house about 2 minutes from the beach and good meetings that (as usual) went well into the evenings. I was there to help a new director plan orientation for new folks, which was great fun. At this point, travel tires me out… but happily I generally get the free first class upgrades. I watched Miss Congeniality 2, Hitch, and The Wedding Date. I ate ice cream sundaes and hot roasted nuts and fruits and salads and all kinds of good stuff like veggie burritos. I got home and was delighted to find my car all repaired (and even washed thanks to the nice people at Downtown Honda!). All is well here, though I’m tired and ready for bed. G’night…

After a long service project in the pouring rain up in the mountains at the Iron Goat Trial, I came home, dried off, and headed back outdoors for a BBQ. It was quite chilly, but we managed a good 5 hours of grilling, laughing, and birthday celebration for Kerry!

Coming up next…

2005 Vashon Island Strawberry Festival
Friday, Saturday, Sunday July 8-10, 2005

http://www.vashonchamber.com/visitor/visitor_strawberryFestival.htm

Lavender Festival & Street Fair
Friday-Saturday, July 15 & 16, 9am-7pm — Sunday, July 17, 10am-6pm
Admission Is FREE
Sequim, WA

I’m always thinking about travel, and it’s been six months since Egypt so I’ve definitely been feeling the travel bug lately. I think I finally have an idea of my next big trip, and suspect it might be Kenya. (I had college classmates who made me curious, I have a Kenyan friend in Seattle who has contributed to my desire to see Kenya, and I know a nun who’s moving there this summer). I usually get my books from the library (more environmental, less capitalist, all that good stuff), but sadly the library doesn’t have any of the readings I’m looking for. If anyone wants to send a random gift, feel encouraged to check out my Amazon.com Wish List. :)

Proof that my friend Kat is a total diva. :)

The Happy Couple: Heather & Trista

Heather and Trista tied the knot earlier this year in Vancouver, and had a wedding reception this weekend back home in Seattle. Trista and I met 11 years ago when we were public health volunteers in Costa Rica. I’ve heard about her parents, and her parents had seen pics of me, but we didn’t meet till this weekend. What fun!

So, it’s confirmed that I’m going to New York City in August for a few weeks. It’ll almost be like a vacation since I won’t be working 60 hours weeks, but won’t exactly be restful. Either way, I’m looking forward. It’ll change things up a little bit, I’ll get to see friends, and I’ll get to explore more of the big city. I also plan to make some time for reading some books on my list. I’ll also be heading to Austin for a quick trip in August for Chuck‘s wedding. :) Hope everyone is well!

Yellow House girls light the Sunday Dinner 1st Birthday cake

One of my favorite events each week, and one of my favorite things in Seattle overall, is Sunday Dinner at the Yellow House. It’s an ever changing crowd of the most fantastic people in town. I love that the crowd of random 20 & 30-somethings, plus everyone’s favorite 2 year old, really feel like my extended family. It’s not just that they treat me like a rock star (which, of course, is quite fantastic). And really, they treat everyone like a rock star so it’s not just me. The beauty of it all isn’t the rock star treatment for everyone, it’s the fact that everyone there really is a rock star. So many wonderful, funny, beautiful, creative, enthusiastic, supportive, well traveled, adventurous, genuine people in one Yellow House is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful thing. I love it dearly, and know I’ll miss it greatly when I eventually leave Seattle. But for now, I wish a very happy 1 year anniversary to Sunday Dinners at the Yellow House, and hope for many, many more Sundays to come!

My (broken) blog apparently no longer takes comments unless you register. Have no fear, I promise not to sell your email to any diploma, poker, or viagra sites. :) (As though as I’d have time for that). In any case, I suspect you can even enter a fake email… no matter to me.

“Wonder Woman” and a flower girl

Life is quickly moving along this week. I’m wrapping up the school year with exit interviews and reporting, had a lovely time catching up with folks at the photo meetup, and have a bunch of Austin friends visiting Seattle for the next few days! Bill’s in town for Microsoft meetings, Kat & Steve arrive in town this afternoon for a friend’s wedding, Charles gets in town late tomorrow night, and Ben arrives on Sunday for a conference. I’m amazed they all ended up in town within the same week, and I’m excited to see each of them. :)

“Cheetah”

Today we hit the Experience Music Project and I’m excited to say it never gets old for me. I’m a charter member and after almost 5 years of going, it’s still fun every single trip. There’s always something new and this time was my first time seeing the fantastic Yes Yes Y’all hip-hop exhibit. Quite fabulous. If you haven’t been to the EMP yet, and you want company when you go, drop me a note. Or, if you want to go but don’t want to pay full price, I still have a few buy one, get one free coupons. Just let me know. :) Hope y’all are well! Viva la musica!

This woman posted 25 places she wants to eat in Seattle. I’ve eaten at many of them, but the rest sound like a good cross section of town. :) Anyone up for exploring?

For right now I’m heading to Ginger and Billy’s Pagan/Wiccan wedding. :) Should be lovely…

This week was lovely… spent time playing tourist with Kat and Steve, with Bill, and with Charles. :) We hit some of my favorite places… the EMP, the downtown library, the Troll and other public art in Fremont, and favorite parks like Kerry, Golden Gardens, and Gasworks. Billy & Ginger’s wedding yesterday at the Woodland Park rose gardens was gorgeous… I don’t know if I’ve seen a bride ever look so glowing. The reception high up in at Smith Tower was also gorgeous… pics to be posted eventually. Chuck, Kat, and Steve all left early this morning at 5am, and Bill left after brunch at Rod’s 3rd Ave Cafe. By this afternoon I had time to enjoy a blissful quiet time in the sun and then watched a movie (Kinsey) before heading to Sunday dinner at the Yellow House. Tonight’s theme was initially puzzling but overall much fun: Mother-in-Law. My tater tot casserole (Rod’s inspiration) was devoured, and my first ever Jello mold received high marks (even the ones who refused to eat it still appreciated its appearance). And now it’s late and I’m ready for bed. Hope y’all are well.

Ben – call me and we’ll hang out this week!
Texas folks – I’ll see you Thursday onward!

I’m excited to say at least one of my friends from high school will be at the reunion! Woohoo! I’m not in touch with very many people from HS and it seems most of them aren’t going to the reunion this week. Kris just had surgery, Jane will be doing a family reunion with her hubby, Ben will be in San Antonio, etc. However, I’m excited to see my friend Will will indeed be there! Three cheers for Will!

I think Ben was convinced in less than 24 hours to move to Seattle! We did dinner tonight at Broadway Grill and then spent the remainder of the evening walking around Pike, Pine, and Broadway. :)

Btw, I updated Phil’s glossary photo by request. I’d like to add John G, but he was a bit camera shy last week… alas.

Seattle Downtown Public Library

Note: I’m back from my reunion in Texas, and happily able to log into my site again. :) Countdown to NYC: 9 days

Chapter 1: High School
Last weekend was my high school reunion… a crazy event that will need a blog post eventually. I’ll skip forward to yesterday which was CE’s birthday. We went to the Nickerson for drinks and nachos which was perfect because I was tired and wanted to be somewhere I could just sit around and talk. I’d been invited to go debating at Neighbors afterwards, but I’m glad I decided against it. Ends up I received a call around 10:15pm from a number I didn’t recognize and got pulled into an hour long chat with none other than Mr. Charles J. DelDotto. Charles and I went to MS and HS together, reconnected and traded a few emails about 5-6 years ago, but didn’t stay in touch. Last night he calls out of the blue… and it was great to catch up! Sure, I was anti-social spending an hour on the phone at CE’s birthday, but it was for a good cause. :) Yay HS friends!

Chapter 2: College
When I got home around midnight, I checked my email before bed and found an unexpected note from my old buddy Ron! We were friends early on in college when he was doing political outreach (for the Young Democrats, I think). We met freshman year, kept in touch okay during college, and haven’t seen each other since then. I got an email once a few years ago when he appeared on a game show (he won one episode of something like Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Weakest Link), but otherwise we’ve gone our separate ways. Every so often I go through my email list of old, old friends and will drop them a random note years later. If people respond at all, I’m always totally psyched! And Ron totally emailed last night and was just as high energy and funny as ever. Yay college friends! Bummer we couldn’t have connected in Austin last week, but alas. Email is pretty exciting in and of itself.

Chapter 3: Work
Today is the end of summer and last day of our academic year, which means it’s the day of our team’s graduation celebration. I’m not one to plan much sentimental hoopla, and have instead planned a beach bash on the waterfront with games, music, and lots of food! CE was asking if I cry at events like this and I’m not sure if I will. It is a sad, sad day when the people you’ve hired, brought together from across the country, struggled with, bonded with, and grown to adore end their year of service and move on to something new. However, it’s also a beautiful day to celebrate the team and the group of amazing individuals we’ve been fortunate to have in Seattle working together for a year. My job is a ton of work because you have to rehire and rebuild the program every year, but it’s worth all of the work as I get teams each year with a vibrant new group of folks that are amazing, intelligent, talented, gifted, and oh so funny! Yay team!

First, HUGE congrats to Suzan on her acceptance and decision to attend the MBA program at the University of Chicago’s graduate school of business! It’s one of the top 5 MBA schools in the country and I couldn’t be more proud of Suzan and excited for her adventure moving from NYC back to Chicago! Of course, I’m very happy she won’t be leaving NYC till the end of August… I want to spend as much time hanging with her as possible when I’m there next month!

And second, while less exciting, is still good news: I’ve finally updated a few links yeterday. Scroll way down below to see added links for Charles, Captain Mike, Elizabeth, John, and Bill. Who knows… maybe in NYC I’ll finally have time to play with my site and redo some layout. :)

Capital Hill Block Party
Sat & Sun July 30-31

SEAFAIR Torchlight Parade, begins at Seattle Center and continues along 4th Ave., Seattle, 206-728-0123 . “Hooray for Hollywood” theme
Sat July 30 7:30p

Ballard SeafoodFest, 22nd Ave. NW & NW Market St., Seattle, 206-784-9705
Music, entertainment, seafood, and Ballard’s own microbrew.
Sat July 30 11a-8p
Sun July 31 12p-7p

Pista sa Nayon, Seward Park Amphitheater, Seattle, 206-296-4004
Filipino American community festival with food, arts & crafts, and live entertainment featuring contemporary and traditional music and dances.
Sun July 31 9a-8p

Magnolia Summer Festival & Parade, Magnolia Village, Seattle, 206-619-0518
Parade, art show, craft vendors, children’s activities, and food booths.
Fri Aug 5 10a-10p
Sat Aug 6 10a-10p Parade at 10:30a

Lake City Summer Festival & Parade, Lake City Way & NE 125th St., Seattle, 206-363-3287
Family-oriented festival with children’s activities, street fair, entertainment, salmon dinner, and antique car show.
Sat Aug 6 10a-10p Kiddies Parade at 6p; Grand Parade at 7p

Happy Birthday to Charles!! Today he’s one step closer to becoming an old man, and is one week closer to getting married!

Here’s my weekend recap:

• Thurs: CE’s birthday and a call from Charles Del Dotto! In bed by 2am.
• Fri: Graduation (yay!) followed by sun and beach time and long awaited Sundi time. CE’s birthday party with Samantha and party games.
• Sat: Epic walk with Caroline, blackberry picking then swimming in Lake Washington with Caroline. Wine tasting with Rod, Claire, Elizabeth, et. al. I was exhausted and had to go home by 10:30pm.
• Errands for work. Errands for second job. Sorting/picking photos for Maggie and Jim. Movie with Erin (should I be hesitant to admit that I thought the French movie Love Me If You Dare was a sweet movie in it’s own kinda-sick way?). In bed by 1am.
• Sun: Worked lots trying to get ready to be gone from the office for 3 weeks.