Texas Vacay 2010

Cousins--Witt, Lacey & Annie

Vacation in Texas last month was awesome! I spent a week in South Texas at the condo with the fam. They've been mentioned on the blog lots, but because it can get confusing here is a cast of characters:
Royce & Cynthia (uncle & aunt)
Royce (aka Big Un), Lauren, Lacey, & Annie (cousin, his wife, and their 2 girls)
Witt (cousin Beau & wife Ann's precious baby)
Kate (awesome cuz)
Gayle & Lynn (great aunt & uncle)

Witt loves his bouncy chair--he stayed happily in it once for 45 minutes!

Lovely South Texas coast

Chillin' with Lacey

Big Un, Lauren, Lacey & Annie

Lauren & Annie in the pool

Two of my favorites! Cynthia & Gayle

Baby Witt--he's so beautiful!

Gayle & Lacey

Lauren & Witt

Red fish...dinner was usually the catch of the day

Auntie Pegs & Baby Witt

Gayle & the kiddos

Lacey helps feed Witt

Royce (aka Pops) and Witt)

Kate, Gayle, Cynthia, & Pegs

Ladies' Pedicures--Lacey & Annie got butterfly chairs!

Silly Lacey

Cynthia & Annie

Pops & Witt

Annie prepared herself for a nap

Auntie Pegs & Annie

The Second Half--At the Byrd House in Round Rock

While I did see Josh, Amy, Mels, and Summer, you'll notice my only pics were of Emma! Here she is with the Seattle Space Needle cup I brought her.

Chillin' at the pool

Loving the water!

So I did get one with Josh & Amy...and Emma of course!

Auntie Pegs & Emma

I had A LOT of Chick-Fil-A while in Texas...it was everything I remembered it to be. Sweet, sweet chicken bliss...especially when paired with a cookies 'n' cream milkshake!

Stick this in your pipe and smoke it.

I had to go commando after working out at the U yesterday. I forgot to pack skivvies. That meant I had to endure the bus ride home feeling like everyone could see bootie dimples and uber-jiggles. Ugh.

I sat next to The Most Annoying Person Ever on the flight back to Seattle from Austin. 4 solid hours. Considering how much I fly, this says a lot. First, he busted out the sandwich he brought on the plane with him and proceeded to be absolutely disgusting. Lettuce everywhere. Smacking away. Ramming me with his left arm. But that was only the beginning of the nightmare to come. After eating, he chewed gum...loudly. And used his index finger to move it all around and stretch it out. At first I thought the gum was just getting stuck, then I realized The Awful Truth. This is how this guy chews gum. And he plans to do it for the rest.of.the.flight. This was way worse than the time I flew to Africa next to an African woman with her 2 year old son who swiped my mashed potatoes right off my tray. That was amateur hour compared to this guy. I turned on my iPod and put my hand up to my face trying to block it out. Except the damage was done. It was like when you were little and you played Tetris for too.damn.long. So when you went to bed that night, you closed your eyes and could only see Tetris pieces falling. Even with my hand over my face, I could still see him twirling that gum with his finger.

What kind of world do we live in? Spell check isn't recognizing "Tetris."

On my Texas vacation (pictures to come), my cousin changed my life forever by introducing me to Vitamin Water Zero, specifically Acai-Blueberry-Pomegranate.

Is it awful that I watched Bachelor Pad the other night and didn't think it was awful?

I sent my advisor a draft of 2/3 of my big fat General Exam. It's 45 pages. Jesse calculated that I basically wrote 5/9 of it with a broken finger requiring a cast on my left (dominant) hand, 3/9 of it with a badly sprained ankle, and maybe 1/9 with no injuries. They should just give me the friggin' degree now.

Mama Shirley's New Life

Big day tomorrow for Mama Shirley

Go here

If you are the kind of person who prays...

When I was in West Africa my first year, I was part of a team that included 9 journeymen (singles in their 20s usually just out of college committed to serving for 2 years), a missionary couple, and another couple who were in their 60s also committed for 2 years to running our guesthouse for volunteers. Bill & Shirley, the older couple, were fondly regarded...we called Shirley "Mama Shirley."

Today, I heard that Bill & Shirley were in a car accident on June 20th. Bill is fine, but Mama Shirley sustained serious injuries, the most serious being a spinal cord injury with a prediction from doctors that she likely won't walk again. However, an infection has now occurred and Mama Shirley isn't doing too well.

There is a blog you can visit if you are the sort of person who likes to read blogs of people you may not actually know, and if you are the sort of person who might pray for someone who coud really use it even if you don't know them well. Here's the blog: http://shirleynolte.wordpress.com/

Joanne's visit

My second friend to make it out to Seattle for a visit was here last week. Joanne is a great friend from college days, and it was so fun to show her Seattle and catch up since we'd last seen each other four years ago. Here are some highlights:

The Fremont Troll

"Joanne, meet Troll. Troll, meet Joanne."

Peek-a-Boo

The Chittenden Locks
Go to the link above for a full explanation of the Locks, but essentially they operate to keep the water levels where they need to be and prevent the salt water of the Puget Sound and the fresh water of the lakes (Union & Washington) from mixing.

"Careful, Jo. Leave some water for the fishies."

My best attempt to capture the huge difference in the water levels. If you look carefully, you can see how low the water is at the bottom of the photo (one side of the lock) from the top of the photo where the boats are patiently waiting (the other side of the lock) so they can continue their journey into the Puget Sound.

The University of Washington
The University District is a must-do on my list for Seattle, so I took Joanne to Portage Bay Cafe, one of my favorite places for breakfast. She had the orgasmic homemade whipped cream and toppings bar, per my recommendation. Then I made her walk all over the UW campus, including Suzzallo's reading room and the fountain.
Please note the long sleeves. In July.
Most days, it warms enough to not need sleeves by late afternoon.
Today, it was actually warm enough by noon. Halle-frickin-lujah.

Kangaroo Farm
Remember the KF from last month? Well, it definitely made the to-do list for all future visitors if at all possible, so Jo and I hit it up.

The lemurs were much more visible this time. They have 3 at the KF, a family of Pop, Mom, and Lil Lemur. Here's Pop. Chillin.

The peacock wasn't in a showy mood, as he was last time. He didn't shake his tailfeather.
Not once.

This time, we did get to see a roo with a joey in her pouch.
SOOOOO cute.
Only a smidge creepy.

Jo was SUPER pumped to feed a roo. But really, who wouldn't be?

"Why, helloooooo."

I know. This is going to be the longest post ever. But I just can't NOT post this.

Ostrich was still there. And still pissed at the world.

These guys were so sweet. But let's face it...in this crowd, the donkeys don't get much notice. So I wanted to post a pic of them as an honorable mention.

Of course, the KF wouldn't be the KF without a little Llama Drama at the end Jo got to kiss the llama!

"Nobody puts Baby in the corner." Well, nobody did. He put himself in the corner and refused all kisses.

Pike Place Public Market

A view I had yet to capture of the Pike Place main entrance.

First Starbucks store visit at Pike Place

Lunch at the brand new Hard Rock Cafe Seattle

Space Needle

It's a looooong way up...

But we made it! And the views were worth it! The mountains were out...

Including Mount Rainier!

And Lake Union...

The Bite of Seattle
The annual yummy fest where all the best food you can find in Seattle is in one place, The Bite!
Shishkaberries, potstickers, fried mac & cheese, roasted corn on the cob...mmm...
And this funky chicken...not to be eaten, thankyouverymuch.

Behold, the shishkaberry. You get it now, right?

Best.Ice.Cream.EVER.

Lilith Fair 2010

On July 3rd (yes, I'm way behind on blogging), I went to the Lilith Fair 2010 with Roommate Leah & Co. The Lilith Fair, which apparently has been around for ages but was brand new to me, is a celebration of women in music. They tour all over the U.S. and Canada, with different musicians at each stop. The Lilith Fair is the brain child of Sarah McLachlan, and the Seattle Lilith featured Sarah, Sheryl Crow, Sugarland, Erykah Badu, and Colbie Caillat, among others.

It was held at The Gorge, which I'd heard RAVE reviews about but had yet to go. The Gorge Amphitheater overlooks the Columbia River and it held up to the gorgeous Gorge reviews. It also gave me the opportunity to get outta Seattle, which I rarely do, and cross the mountains--away from the lousy 50 degree weather we had until 4th of July (don't get me started) and over to the 77 degree weather of Eastern Washington. Yes, please.

See for yourself:




Seriously. The Gorge is gorgeous.

*Will post again soon because Cool College Friend Joanne came to visit Seattle...and Tall White Boy (aka Jesse) is currently on the loose in Beijing, China until July 30th.