just laura

Rachel is a wise woman and she lays it out quite clearly…

My cousin Steph just married her dad’s business partner Don! The wedding pics are gorgeous, showing many beautiful smiling faces! Looking forward to seeing the happy couple on my next trip to North Caroline!

Since the last time I checked in on Columbus Day…

• Flower petting at Volunteer Park and dinner at Mama’s with Brian A
• Gluten free date night with David
• Parents arrived in town and stayed for five nights!
• Trip to Portland to visit my aunt Kandy and cousin Colin
• Burning Man planning meetings to prepare a partial Grooviks Cube for SeaCompression
• Lots of trips to Lowes for home repairs… finally fixed closet bar, installed towel rack, replaced light bulbs, built awning for my grill, etc.
• Jess’s birthday party at Naked City Brewery
• Lullaby Moon (see post below) with Mom, Dad, and Everywhere/Kris
• Doctors visits and a CT scan (turned up inconclusive results)
• Another cooking date night with David
• Bev & Shawn’s 5th Anniversary – very sweet party celebrating their love at LRS
• A mixer at Heden
• Housewarming in the U-District
• White Masquerade Party in Capitol Hill
• Rainy and cold bike ride with Jess
• Rusted Root concert at the Croc with Brian R and Kris
• Halloween crafting night with Bev and Alison
• Pumpkin Carving 7 at Samantha’s place!
• The Kistler Awards Black Tie gala with Mez
• Celebration for Craig’s last day of work at the Elysian Brewery
• Joe’s Surprise Goodbye Party… can’t believe he’s already off on his motorcycle trip down to the southern tip of Argentina… so awesome!
• My first time trick or treating in years… so fun! Lesley, Clayton, Ola, and I hit 17th Street… utter madness! So much fun! Makes me want to create a haunted house and spooky shenanigans next year at 910!
• HiveMind Halloween party with Seattle burners… netted over $24,000 for nonprofits! Was a bee in a swarm of over 30 bees and 2 bee keepers!
• Walking date with Caroline on a gorgeous sunny fall day at Greenlake
• Dinner at Andaluca with Mez then my first time to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Fifth Ave Theater
• Started taking an online class: the Art of Magazine Writing.
• Bought a MacBook Pro with my AmeriCorps Ed Award! My ed award expires in December, so I had to use my money between now and then. So fun! Looking forward to being frustrated while I learn Mac and then looking forward to creating all kinds of fun stuff!
• More date nights and brunches and fun with David
• Another movie night at Heden
• And tonight, I’m off to Annex Theater to see the Sonos acapella group perform to an over enthusiastic crowd. :)

Hope y’all had a good three weeks too!

xo,
Cat

Made my very first trip to Spokane this week, almost 10 years after moving to Washington state. Picking on Spovegas Spokane is a pretty popular past time for a lot of folks in WA, but it doesn’t seem to be that bad or that much worse than any other smallish city. Just because it’s our second biggest city, doesn’t mean it’s big. Seattle metro is about 3.5 million. SpoCompton Spokane’s metro population is only 600,000. It’s a more rural/agricultural economy, and not as progressive as Seattle. Locals tell me there’s not much going on, but I hosted my conference in the downtown and it was lovely for a short three day visit.

Like San Antonio, there’s a lovely river going through downtown, lovely waterfront park with good walking/foot bridges, and lots of cafes, pubs, and shopping. I worked all day so I didn’t get to explore much, but did make it out for good dinners both nights.

Mizuna Restaurant and Wine Bar
www.mizuna.com
214 N Howard St
Spokane, WA 99201-0805
(509) 747-2004

Considered one of Spokane’s finest restaurants, Mizuna offers a dynamic seasonal menu featuring the best of fresh local organic northwest ingredients. After being a strictly vegetarian restaurant of the first five years, they introduced fresh fish and organic hormone free meats, while still focusing on their vegetarian guests. This was a difficult decision, but felt in order to grow the restaurant into the healthy thriving business they knew it could be, they needed a shift. One thing remains consistent: the philosophy of providing the highest quality ingredients, healthfully and conscientiously prepared, with many vegetarian and vegan options served by skilled, gracious staff in an environment that is relaxing and uplifting.

Chef, Tom Nichols keeps regulars continually coming back for more with his changing seasonal menu focusing on the freshest produce available, utilizing local organic farmers, fresh fish and the highest quality organic and hormone free meats. Care and attention are put into to each and every plate, served with style and finesse. Vegetarian and vegan guests find comfort in knowing that they have many tantalizing options available to them and that their food is always prepared with creativity and care. Separate cooking surfaces are used for all meat products, and several Mizuna staples are always vegan. Our philosophy is that with proper cooking techniques, fewer ingredients are necessary to bring out food’s true flavor. Above all, we believe in simple, honest food.

Zola’s
www.zolaspokane.com
22 W Main Ave
Spokane, WA 99201-3128
(509) 624-2416

“If you ask me what I came into this world to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.” – Emile Zola

The historical Longbotham building, originally built in 1909, is now home to Zola, a coalition of artistic and culinary vision of Dan Spalding and William Webster. Sean “Smitty” Smith was an integral player in creating a comfortable atmosphere that isn’t off-putting. Most decor and furnishings were salvaged and recycled from demolition sites around the block and downtown Spokane. The upstairs seating features vintage tilt-a-whirl bucket booths that date back to the 1940′s. The liquor dollies and our unique wall coverings are created out of everything from old bicycle rims to license plates. A favorite piece is the “uts” light fixture above the bar which came from the Jim Dandy Donuts sign on North Division.

Opening day, March 7, 2008, Zola became the only bar where a father can take his son or a mother can take her daughter on their 21st birthday and enjoy dinner, drinks and hang out and feel totally comfortable. In only eight months, owner William Webster was honored with Spokane’s Ultimate Culinary Gala – 2008 Epicurean Delight Award for outstanding Hors d’ Oeuvres. Zola looks forward to suprising our patrons for years to come with different menus, drinks, events and incredible ambiance.

Happy hour daily 4pm to 6pm
Live music nightly Tuesday through Saturday
Poker tournaments Tuesday and Thursday

Last Friday was a lovely dinner with David at Cafe Nordo. The vegetarian ate chicken for this special dinner of local, organic dinner theater. Amazing! And speaking of David… did I mention he used the G word last weekend for the first time? (G word = girlfriend). Fun stuff. :)

Saturday I met up with Caroline, Suzanne, and Jess for drinks at the Elysian, then headed to the Triple Door with David and Jess to see the Theoretics. (I’d met Ben at a party a month ago and was excited to finally see his band play). Good times.

Sunday was a fun day lazying about the house with David, Leah, Eric, Taylor, Mark, and Hess. :)

Sunday night Antoun was in town and we cooked dinner and went to the Monkey House housewarming… amazing! So great to see smiling faces and to see the beautiful new home of Laura and Geoff, Steph and Rob.

Monday was another lovely dinner… also cooked by Antoun. Black cod, salmon, cranberry reduction, mushroom sauce, butternut squash couscous, homemade tzatziki, and salad. Yum. Fun to start the week with dinner with so many good people… Antoun, David, Miller, Nathan, Noah, Kevin, and Erika. We even got a sneak peak at one of Nathan’s birthday gifts (a movie in the media room).

Tuesday was house bonding as all three/four of us were actually here at the same time! I was planning to meet up with David and Megan for sushi, but with the arrival of housemates I canceled and decided to live it up at Sunrise. We’ve signed on to host an event for the Christmas Crawl (decorating x-mas cookies and watching x-mas shorts), and we’ve scheduled a house brunch too. Good times!

And now I’m home, packing for my trip to Florida tomorrow morning. If I’m good, I’ll make it over to AND for Dave L’s birthday party, but we’ll see. It’s rainy, I’m tired, I’m hungry, I leave at 5am, and I’m not packed yet. :) Tomorrow I fly to Florida for the annual family holiday. I’m excited to get some sun, and super excited to see my niece, nephew, and whole family. Mez and his family will also be there and we’ll be meeting up with them on both Friday and Saturday. Good times.

This is pure happy making!

I think I want a birthday party this year. Not sure what I want though. Small, cozy 30 ppl? How do I pick just 30? Bigger 100-200 house party? Does it feel like it’s about me if it’s 200 people, or is it just anothe party? Bouncy palace rental place like Ian did for his 7th birthday last week? So many options… Decisions, decisions…