Seattle Sites

Afrikando!
Jesse's mom and I went to eat at Afrikando, a West African restaurant located in South Seattle.
Senegal had, by far, the best food in West Africa in my opinion and I was super excited to have yassa poulet again for the first time since 2005.

Bissap, a tradiational Senegalese beverage made from hibiscus.

We shared a plate of fried plaintains for the appetizer.

Yassa au poulet

Maggie ordered ceebu jinn, the Senegalese national dish.

Recent visit to the Woodland Park Zoo

Above is one of my favorites, the sea otter. This little guy got in the water and swam up just to say hi to us.

The bald eagle was one of the last exhibits we saw.

Good ol' brown bear.

This siting of the ostrich didn't yield quite the excitement of when my team and I raced an ostrich on an African safari in South Africa in 2000...but I still love the ostrich.

Precious kangas.

Cool kind of bird...can't remember the name. It promptly ran into the glass wall of the exhibit about 5 seconds after this photo was taken.

The bird feeding area.

Golden monkeys...so cute!

This was probably the best exhibit of the day...the gorillas were right there when everyone could see them. Here, Mama and baby watch Papa and Junior on the ropes. Mama had a disgusting habit that she performed 3 times while we were there of puking her food up and then eating it. She licked her fingers to make sure every tasty puke morsel was eaten. Ew.

The rest of these are just pretty birds...

Nepalese food with Jesse's classmates to celebrate the end of Calculus--these are lovely appetizers called Momos

Fans of the late 90s movie, Ten Things I Hate About You, may recognize these shots of Gasworks Park from the paintball scene...

It was terrifically cold and windy that day which is why my hair is doing some strange Afro twist back.

Jesse wanted us to do a panic face for some unknown reason...I look totally not believable.

My failed attempt to capture the Space Needle in my hand.

tee-ired

I'm tired. For the second time in 3 weeks, I traveled to Texas and back over the course of a regular weekend. That is just crazy.

My body does not know what time it is or why we are at work. And we caught some sort of ickiness on the airplane home, we think.

That is why the eyes are simultaneously trying to close and pop out of the head.

That is why the nose has decided to run more miles than Mrs. Darling does in an average week.

That is why the throat keeps trying to get the rest of the body's attention, spasming "AHEM" every 30 seconds.

That is why we all want to go home and back to bed, even though we were in bed for 11.5 hours last night.

Bored with the blog...

I'm having blog-envy. I like the lovely templates of my dear blog friends far better than my own. I have scrolled through the few available templates on blogger.com but I don't really dig any of them. Where else can I scour for a new blog template?

And how do I personalize it at the top with a photo?

If you read this, do me a favor and become a "follower" so I gain blog-self-esteem.

And finally, what is Twitter?

There's a new Byrd in da house!

My dear friend Amy (okay, I guess Josh should be mentioned too) just welcomed their first baby, a beautiful girl named Emma Lucille! To follow Emma's adventures, go here!

Dog Posin'

My friend Jenn came over the other night and brought Koda, her adorable Sheba Enu, with her. Sophie and Koda had met once before and romped & stomped like old friends, so we were excited for the reunion.

Sophie

Koda

Many, many attempts at a group photo...

Attempt #1: Lure Koda with a bone

Attempt #2: Lure Sophie with a bone

Attempt #3: Try to get Sophie facing the camera

Attempt #4: Trying to get Koda to face the camera and Sophie to look up

Attempt #5: Simply manhandling Sophie into an acceptable pose, Koda now eyes the bone

Final Attempt: Can't win 'em all, but this was the best shot we got.

Ferry & a Wedding

Two weeks ago, my friend Ashley got married in Poulsbo, WA. To get to Poulsbo from Seattle, you have to take a ferry. This was only my second time to take the ferry (the first being when Christine, Chrissy & I visited Seattle in January 2006 and took a ferry to Bainbridge Island from Seattle), and I quickly remembered how freezing cold it is if you step outside to get a better view.

Chrissy & me on the ferry

Jesse and me (and my super cute new Nine West handbag) on the ferry

The back of the ferry

Ashley has always been unconventional, so it was no surprise that her wedding was held at a campsite. The ceremony and reception happened here, in a large cabin, and it was beautiful.

Ashley's bridal room, just outside the cabin.

You know who these two are...at the wedding.

Following the path of unconventionality, this was the wedding cake...although, apparently this is the new thing so maybe it will become conventional after all. For now, they are key lime cupcake-wedding cakes.

I know Ashley from the church I went to when I first moved to Seattle, so there were a few people from that church I saw again that I hadn't talked to in about a year, including Mark & Vanessa (on the right, above)...a super fun couple who sat with us for the afternoon.
Pictured here: Jesse, Chrissy, Me, Greg (the groom), Ashley, Mark & Vanessa

Breaking the Mold

Randy Itschner died 09/04/2008.

Fay Holmes died 12/03/2008.

Louise Itschner died 03/19/2009.

She was the last of them...all parents and grandparents are gone. I'm tired. I'm also averaging one death every 3 months. I'm a little afraid of June.

My grandmother, Louise Itschner, passed away this morning. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1992 and went to live at a care facility in Kerrville, TX, in 1993. She was clearly a fighter. I believe the average survival is 7-10 years after diagnosis, so she broke the mold.

She always had broken the mold, though, so none of us were too surprised. She was strikingly beautiful (see below), very much like the actresses of the 1940s. She was nearly the youngest of 13 children, and established her own unique, engaging personality and identity. She established herself in the real estate market in Rockport, TX. She ran a household like no other. She taught me all the manners she could teach to a 10 year old. She raised 2 boys, who were quite the handful, to be responsible, good men and caring fathers.

So, I think my motto for Louise Itschner is "Breaking the Mold."

reunited

I hopped on a plane to Denton and reunited with some precious friends there this past weekend. A few selected highlights:

After indulging in the best sesame chicken on the planet at Mr. Chopsticks, Cookie, me, Uyen, and Angie posed in the parking lot.

Angie, Madame Yoga Master showing us a pose

Angie coaching Cookie in yoga technique. Her coaching went something like this, "Get your legs up! Make 'em straight! STRAAAAAIGGHHHHTTTTT!"

Cookie & Marcy--aren't they beautiful?

Marcy & me--I love this gal, one of the finest friends in the world.

Wine & dessert (okay and a little tequila for SOME of us), and loads of laughter at the Grindle house (Cookie's)--Angie, Uyen, Cookie, me, Marcy & Sara.
An aside: Supposedly Marcy & I are both 5'7"...I think she shrank. Also, it's ludicrous how high my waistline is when you look at all of us together like this. Ludicrous.

dream

so for a long time after daddy died, i had nightly nightmares. nightly, as in every night. it was very disturbing. they had not yet subsided when grandma died. so i got new kinds of nightmares. they finally were slowing down a little, and i had been getting better sleep.

last night, i dreamed that grandma had died but was sitting up and talking to our whole family. she was telling us the good things she loved about each of us. then she started saying horrible things to one member of the family. it was awful. i tried to stop her, but she wouldn't.

then you know how in dreams, things will just kind of fast forward and you'll be in another place but still the same concept of the dream is happening? well, that happened and i was lying on a bed with my mom. she looked at me and i looked at her and we said nothing. then we both cried and held onto each other out of grief for losing grandma.

i realize that grandma was a big part of my comfort when mama died. i have had no such comfort this time, and wish that mama was here.

i wonder why God has decided i'm strong enough to handle so much death by age 30.

My favorite time of year...

Girl Scout Cookie Time!

Picasa Collage

I have this fantastic program, Picasa, on my computer now that allows me to create collages really easily. This one for Daddy is my first collage...I'm rather pleased. :)

Happy Fat Tuesday...on Thursday

So, to celebrate Mardi Gras (also known as Fat Tuesday) the Student Services office of the Information School at the University of Washington where I am currently an advising intern, hosted a shindig to give the students a fun study break. These are easily the kookiest folks I've ever had the pleasure of working with. The party consisted of the classic King Cake, lots of other foods, beads upon beads, AND making your own mask! I'm normally the least artistically-oriented person around, but I happened to get inspiration from those around me...

And my fabulous co-workers, Jenny & Marie

PS Kari, here's a link to the traditional King Cake recipe! Really, though, Marie made a delicious one for the iSchool party so you should consider stalking her on her blog to ask for her recipe.

Siskel & Pegs

Confessions of a Shopaholic 3 stars

Having read two of Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series, I was stoked to see this movie. My roommate and I got tickets online the night before, not wanting to chance not being able to get in on opening night. (We learned later that we needn't have worried.)

Isla Fisher is darling as Rebecca Bloomwood, as is the hum-uh-nuh hum-uh-nuh British actor playing the charming Luke Brandon. While quite different from the books (Rebecca is British in the novels and American in the movie), it is still everything a girl could want in a true chick flick. As Rebecca smashes a block of frozen ice that contains her prized credit card, you laugh with her. As she lets go of her precious Denny & George green scarf in order to pay off her debt, your heart is at once proud of Rebecca and breaking with her over the loss such a beautiful accessory.

Go see it, ladies. And take your favorite accessory with you.

He's Just Not That Into You 3 stars

I'm a fan of most movies with more than one storyline, so this one immediately got on my good side. Packed with stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connolly, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore and Scarlett Johansson, this chick flick will make you laugh and cry.

You will likely identify with at least one character, even if you're a dude. Filled with stereotypical characters of both genders, there is the:
--classic idealistic, clingy, needy girl (Ginnifer),
--the girl who hung on to a dead-end relationship hoping he'd change for her (Jennifer A),
--the girl who gets cheated on by her husband yet thinks they can work it out just because he says he wants to (Jennifer C),
--the girl who sleeps with the married guy because she thinks he is going to leave his wife for her (Scarlett),
--the guy who is a complete idiot, getting married because he's too much of a coward to not get married when he doesn't want to just b/c he doesn't want to hurt his college sweetheart's feelings and feels like he "should" after being with her so long (he's been in stuff and he's HOT, but don't know his name),
--and...SPOILER ALERT--DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT AND PLAN TO...the guy who says he doesn't want to get married, and then decides he will do anything to make his beloved happy, including getting married.

My problem with this movie is that, if you've read the book, you know the entire point the authors make is that if a guy isn't doing X, Y, and Z, he's just not that into you. Hence the name of the book. The problem is that several of the storylines give you that feel good ending leading you to falsely believe that these fairy tales do come true. Now, I know the book and movie often have major differences, but you shouldn't change the entire premise.

Still worth going to see...though waiting for DVD isn't a bad thing to consider on this one.

"W" (3 stars)

Sliding flashbacks of George W. Bush's life while chronicling his presidency, this movie is probably more for those who are not big Bush fans, which I suppose these days is the majority of you, according to the polls. All the good Bush quotes came out, and I often wanted to cover my eyes or stop the movie for the awkwardness of it all. However, there were some poignant moments where I felt a new kind of sympathy towards W, and that he truly did what he thought was best for the nation.

If you are not a Bush fan, you might go ahead and see it soon in order to alleviate some of your doubtless frustrations concerning our most recent president. If you are a Bush fan, see it. There's nothing you didn't already know (or think you knew).

The Secret Life of Bees (5,000 stars)

This is my new favorite movie. I watched it twice in 24 hours. That little Dakota Fanning is a fabulous actress. I can't wait to see her career unfold. Queen Latifah, Alicia Keyes, and Jennifer Hudson round out the star-studded cast. My ONLY disappointment was that with so many talented singers in the cast, there was almost no singing in the movie.

However, I decided that perhaps they deliberately had them not sing in order to show us exactly how amazing their acting talent is. This movie allows the audience to peek inside the life of a teenage girl who has to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders during the turbulent 1960s. On a mission to discover her mother, she finds love with the Boatwright sisters and..ahem, a certain young gentleman.

Go see it. Log off your computer and run to the nearest video store.

Grandma's Memorial

The memorial was beautiful, and my trip to Texas was wonderful. I will share more later, but for now I wanted to share the video that my grandma's nephew created. I was able to upload it to YouTube, so please watch & enjoy! FYI, to those new to YouTube, you can click on the icon next to the volume for a full screen view.