This one goes out to the ones I love

How was everyone’s week of gluttony – the week where we stand up for everything America stands for by lying around and getting FAT on Thanksgiving comfort food?! So haute.

This past week, there were a LOT of posts on Facebook (as I’m sure everyone saw) about what people were thankful for… also a lot of quotes and comments about being thankful all year round instead of just one day, blah, blah, blah.

I know I’m very grateful for the gifts (and amazing talent ) I’ve been given. I frequently talk with my sister, friends, mom and dad about how lucky I feel. I really, really do. But I think because of the reason, season and time, we all give a few more thoughts during Thanksgiving week about what we’re especially grateful for.

I jokingly posted on the interwebs that I was thankful for spandex. Just to cut through the seriousness. But if we’re being serious (for serious, seriously), for me more this year than usual, I’m thankful for “each other.” Or more specifically, my friends and family. As cliche as that sounds, let me explain…

This is a lesson you learn even more so when you move away from home and relocate to a new city: Your 16 circles of people become two circles of people. The people who love you and take interest in your life, are those who call to randomly chat and check in (rather than just checking Facebook) and go out of their way to spend time with you because they love and appreciate your friendship just as much as you do theirs. Two way friendships stick around and one way friendships disappear. You stop taking advantage of the time you spend with those you love (because they are oh.so.missed), and your schedule becomes less spread super thin and more focused on those who just make you feel loved when you’re in their presence. This is what life is about.

It’s not easy to move away from all your life-long friends and family and sometimes sit in your house by yourself when it’s your nature to be social, to see everything your friends are doing at home and wishing with every bone in your being that you could cab to their house and go together, to explore new neighborhoods and lunch spots alone, or to not have a group to plan a camping trip with. I realized more so than ever that my personal relationships are more important to me than anything else in my life. I’m growing and learning and changing and having SOO much fun in a new city, exploring a new side to Jeanna. But I just don’t like being away from the people I love. I don’t at all.

But this is another lesson you learn when you move away from home: You work really hard in a new city to make your “family” – your home away from home – which might be 5 people instead of 30. Five very, very special people. In my new city, I’m surrounded by new friends, new people I’m quickly beginning to love, and a small circle of people who are becoming my family and my home away from home. And now, when I’m home in Seattle, I miss them and the fun they’re having. I want to take a cab to their house and go together. They’re my people to explore new neighborhoods and lunch spots as we navigate a big city together. As we miss our “homes” but choose to make a new home together.

What I learned this year is that I’ll never be able to stay in one spot anymore and not miss someone – this is what happens when you can call two places home… or three… or four.

But, I can go everywhere and find people who will love me, and love everyone back just as much, or even more, regardless of my location.

That’s what I’m thankful for.

Currently Feeling: Annoyed my flight is delayed two hours (again!). Damn you, SFO fog!
Currently Anticipating: Sleeping in my own bed tonight and cuddling Miss Stella!
Currently Loving: My new Kindle Touch! (I totes bought it, even though I totes didn’t need it. Whoopsie. But, I love it so much better than the keyboard one!)

An Ultimate Girly Weekend

Last weekend, one of my bestest girl friends from Seattle came and stayed with me in San Francisco for four days, and it was awesome.

As we get older and lives take each of us on our own journey, the more “busy” everyone becomes. Each of us are caught up in our own affairs – boyfriends, workouts, grad school, long work hours, different cities or states – and it all makes it difficult to see very much of your best friends. So, it was a true gift to spend four nonstop days with this particular BFF in my new city.

Thursday we had the ultimate girly evening – shopping at one of SF’s best clothing boutiques, Ambiance, fantastic sushi at Umami in the Marina, followed by a late evening viewing of The Help, which is so, so, good! As an avid book reader who likes to watch the movie version of the books I read, it was hands down the most satisfying book/movie combination I’ve ever seen.

Friday we picked up another one of our BFFs from college who was in town for one night and hit the city for a fun house party with my San Francisco girl friends followed by an 80s cover band and a late night slumber party with gossip and midnight snacks. (A novelty I haven’t experienced since college). Life needs more slumber parties with girl friends!

Pre-80s band night drinks at my Cait's with old and new friends

Saturday we enjoyed a fabulous brunch and Bloody Mary’s at a friend’s house, traveled out to Tiburon for my first COLD experience at Sam’s on the waterfront, and went on a silly scavenger hunt in the North Beach neighborhood of SF, which was hands down one of my the most fun nights and the most laughing I’ve done in awhile. We sprinted (literally, sprinted) through the streets of North Beach, dodging other teams trying to spray us with whip cream, and trying to find all the funny items on the scavenger hunt list (Snookie look alike, or an “off duty prostitute” and capture them with our iPhone. If you live in SF, you must check out CLASH (California League of Adult Scavenger Hunt) and sign up for your own scavenger hunt (they do them every weekend).

We had to cross "Sausage Fest" off our scavenger hunt list,
so we found a sausage store and had a dance fest. Get it?  

In between all those plans, we drank a couple glasses of wine, had lots of girl talk, went on many walks and worked out together. It was just such a special time for me to have one of my BFFs experience my new life with me and show her around my new city. I look forward to having weekends like this with her every year! Love you, Kristen! xoxo

Currently Feeling: Extreme relief after finishing all my work for both jobs and turning my vacation responder on – I’m a free woman for three weeks!
Currently Anticipating: A White Party at a winery tonight with all my Seattle friends and lovers.
Currently Loving: My new hair color and fancy straight style (temp). Love getting my hair done.

Everything is made better with mustaches

Last week this San Francisco thing started to feel REAL. I might have mentioned in this blog post that apartment searching felt REAL real. But now it’s REAL, real, REAL.

I’m sure I’ll come back to you after tomorrow and Wednesday – the pack the move truck and drive out of Seattle days – and then it’ll be REAL, real, REAL, real, REAL.

Um, yeah. This is happening.

I’ve been talking about the move and going through the motions for a month now, checking off my laundry list of to-dos. But, up until last week, I don’t know I really sat down to think that this all means I’m leaving Seattle, specifically the Queen Anne neighborhood – my home for the last eight years. Eight.years. How did THAT happen?!

I started off the week with packing up some of my apartment, which was the first moment that I was all, “Um, what am I DOING?!” I fought back a few tears only because my roommate was home. Otherwise I think I would have been blubbering with snot on my face in sweats, spooning cake frosting into my mouth ala Goldie Hawn in “Death Becomes Her.” Remember that part?! Love that movie.

After making it through the “packing up my entire life” hump, I ended the week with a Cinco de Mayo going away party with MUSTACHES. This is the third party I’ve thrown with fake mustaches. Some of you might think that’s weird. I think it’s awesome. Throw a mustache party, and I promise it’ll be the most you’ve laughed in a long time. And afterwards the photos are even more hilarious. Everything is made better with mustaches. Even moving away from your best friends and family.

So, this is where the move gets the hardest. The Space Needle view can be replaced. The 25 restaurants I was dying to try and never got a chance to can be visited when I’m home for Christmas or the summer. The fabulous Seattle summer weather will be replaced by fabulous San Francisco Indian summer weather. The festivals I love so much that I go to every year – Oktoberfest, Summer Solstice Festival, The Bite of Seattle – those will all be replaced with San Francisco’s version.

But the people – oh the people of Seattle. Those of you who have made me laugh daily, met me for brunches and happy hours and barbecues at Golden Gardens, shared cabins in Eastern Washington with me and the drive over with Sparks, attended birthday parties and dressed up for each and every one of them, eaten drunken nachos and fried macaroni triangles, sat next to me while I cried, cheered on my dreams and career moves (or lack there of during my summer of Funemployment), held my hand occasionally or ever loved me as much as I loved you, and worn mustaches for me every time I’ve asked. You know who you are. YOU can’t be replaced, my friend. And that is what makes this move to San Francisco to exciting, so freakin’ freakin’ exciting. But so bittersweet at the same time.

Currently Feeling: Pretty good with where I’m at timing wise – almost all packed up and ready to go.
Currently Anticipating: One last Peso’s visit tonight for happy hour. All roads lead to Peso’s. If you ever find yourself in Seattle – GO! Best happy hour in the city.
Currently Needing: A picture frame for my new San Francisco Ork Poster my BFF bought me!

How to Throw a Roaring Twenties Party

As one of my blog tags suggest, I am totally a theme party whore. I loooove them. I love going to them; I love throwing them.

Throughout my 20s, I’ve thrown some pretty good theme parties, including but not limited to: a silver birthday party for my silver 25th birthday party, a Dirty 30 party for my ex-boyfriend’s 30th with a boob cake and dirty mustaches, a Mustache and Sombrero birthday party (what party is complete without mustaches?!), a Sexual Chocolate party (Passion Party + chocolate fondue)… and now a Roaring 20s theme for my 29th Birthday!

Since 29 is the last year of my magnificent 20s, I decided to celebrate it with a Roaring 20s theme. I researched decorations, food, costumes and all the details. Here’s what I did, and how you can throw your own Roaring 20s Party.

Location:

I chose a private party space in Seattle called The Upstairs, which had a “speakeasy” vibe. The entrance was a nondescript door in the city, and guests had to walk upstairs to what looked like an underground bar during Prohibition… lights were strung across the ceiling, handmade art adorned all the walls and guests could dance or sit on velvet couches and chairs to chat. (If you live in Seattle, seriously have your party here! It’s owned by Cory, the brain behind Pinxto – and he is AWESOME at accommodating needs and wants to make your party special!)

Invite:

To get the guests into the Prohibition mindset, I sent an invite with an address that said the party was at “a door next to” a popular bar in Seattle, and gave them each a password to give at the door to get in (something that was often done during Prohibition for entrance into underground bars). Then I hired a door guy to ask guests what their password was at the door. (Gin Fizz!)

Decorations:

Tall vases of feathers and Cali lilies were on tables, feathers adorned bar and tabletops, and I purchased boxes of candy cigarettes to set around the party too. I also had glass candy dishes with gummy bears and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – candies that were both invented in the 1920s, and bowls of nuts on the bar top – another popular snack food in the 20s.

Food:

My mom catered the party, and we researched popular party foods in the 20s, and dishes invented in the 20s. The menu included:

Shrimp cocktail (popular party food in the 20s)

Zucchini chips (zucchinis came to the U.S. in the 20s)

Deviled eggs (egg creams were popular in the 20s)

Waldorf Salad (served to President Coolidge in 1924 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC)

Brie cheese platter (popular party food in the 20s)

Olives (popular party snack in the 20s)

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes (dessert invented in 1925 after Dole’s pineapple recipe contest)

Then I created and printed little tags with rhinestones that said the food, the year it was invented and were displayed using photo holders I bought at Michael’s Crafts for $1!

Drinks:

The bar created a custom cocktail list for me, which included:

Mint Julep (whiskey, mint, soda water)

Gin Fizz (gin, lemon, powered sugar & soda water)

French 75 (gin, lemon & Cava champagne)

Roaring Jeanna (whipped cream vodka & soda water – my fav drink!!)

Costumes:

All my guests dressed in 1920s costumes! What do these look like, you ask?! Mostly flappers in fishnets, black wigs, feather headbands and garter belts for the ladies – but also slip dresses with a low hemline, pin curls and pearls. For the boys – gangster gear or just plain suits, suspenders and fedoras.

Party Details:

I hired a photographer and set up a “photo booth” area for my guests with 1920s props such as feather boas, a fake cigar, pearl necklaces, a martini glass and a chalkboard to write fun messages on for the pics. I also created a box and a sign that said, “What Should I Do the Last Year of My 20s?” and asked guests to write their advice for me on little white cards and place them in the box. I’m going to spend this year actually trying to accomplish all the advice from my friends (another post coming on that soon!)

And now… all the photos! My favorite part of the whole shebang because it shows how AWESOME my friends are, who are the “detail” that really made my whole party:

PROST!

Another October, another fall, another Oktoberfest, HOLLA! For those of you who’ve been a long-time reader, you know I’m a HUGE fan of Oktoberfest. We’re lucky enough here in Washington to have TWO of the top 10 celebrations in the nation. One of them in Fremont each year, which is where I ran my first 5K race, and the other one in Leavenworth, which I attended last weekend with the BF and some college friends. I’ve written about my past Oktoberfest’s in Leavenworth here and here, but I thought I’d share it in a new way this year – through WHRRL! You know you love it.

Currently Feeling: A little under the weather, but thankfully I’m kicking this cold rather quickly. I have an immune system of steal!
Currently Anticipating: My little sister’s 21st birthday this weekend! Oh my gosh! I seriously can’t believe she’s going to be 21.
Currently Reading: Rattled, a memoir by Christine Coppa. Freaks the shiz out of me, I tell yah.

A trinket from my memory shelf

This past weekend I headed up to Victoria B.C. for a friend’s bachelorette party, with a teeny stop along the way in my old college town to stay with a nearest and dearest friend on Friday night. I haven’t been back in more than a year – and haven’t stayed more than one night since I graduated four years ago. But, as soon as I drove around the Evergreen-lined bend of the freeway and saw the approaching exit sign with “Western Washington University” on it, my face stretched into a huge grin.

Bellingham has been deemed one of the best places to retire, and now that I look back – it was one of the best places to go to school. As I drove through the familiar streets on my way through the sleepy town, I, quite literally, took a trip down memory lane. I thought about all the bus rides I took to school, bumping people with my huge art portfolio that carried the naked sketches I’d managed to do without busting at the seams (a wrinkly penis from an 80-year-old man is really hard to look at for three hours without wanting to giggle). I remembered the party where I chipped my tooth, the night I accidentally left my friend in my trunk, the day I partook in festivities from 4:20 in the afternoon until 4:20 in the morning, and the afternoon I made out underneath a sleeping bag on the cliffs of Larrabee State Park. I remembered eating popcorn at The Beav and shaking my groove thang to 80s music and Journey at The 3-B. I thought about Belgium waffles and buffet breakfasts in the cafeteria, the house on the corner with bumper pool, a dozen pink roses on my birthday and holding hands in the park, Franzia wine in a box, and frantic mornings I spent at Kinko’s, printing out my graphic design projects after I stayed up more than 24 hours to finish them. I remembered drinking 40s on Thirsty Thursdays, walking through bars, searching for half empty pitchers left by people I didn’t know, interviewing bands, restaurant owners, mothers and graffiti artists for the school magazine, and painting my nails every day at the salon I worked at. As I drove, I thought a lot about laughter, a lot about friends and a lot about heartache.

“It’s hard because I have some of my best times here and some of my lowest,” my girl friend said as we drove together on our way back through the town after our girl’s weekend.

What is the expression – “nail on the head”? Yeah… that.

College was, well, amazing. There is no other time in my life that I’ll get to live in a community with thousands of people within three years of myself, start a life for the first time without parents, or have my only commitment be three hours of class a day. I will never get to skip work just because I want to watch The Price is Right. But, I also went through some bad roommates, losing a few good friends and a little bit of heartache.

I think life is a lot like trinkets on a shelf – there are parts of yourself that hold either a tiny memory, or a lot of memories, that are put up on a shelf and seldom thought about, until you take that trinket down for a minute, dust it off, rotate it in your palm, smile or feel sad, and then put it back and continue with your day…

For me college is one of my most cherished trinkets. When I take down my college life off the shelf and think about it for more than a fleeting second, I do occasionally get a twinge of sadness. But, for the most part it makes me grin so big that I can’t hold it in.

Those memories will be with me forever.

Currently Feeling: Twitterpated after our spaghetti dinner and cuddle under the covers date last night. After four days away, our reunion was quite nice.
Currently Anticipating: Finding a fancy new place to live, with a dishwasher and a washer and dryer! Imagine that.
Currently Needing: Something to knock me out for the plane ride to Mexico. I’m already getting nervous. I freakin’ hate flying with a red hot passion. When did I become so neurotic?!

Why you don’t date early 20-somethings in your late-20s

A girl friend of mine recently told me how excited she was about this new guy she met at the bar on Christmas night, whom she described as good looking and affectionately shy with a cute name. (Why are guys just a bit sexier when they have a cute name? Bestie Amanda and I loved the name of a boy we recently met, Israel. How cute is that name?!) Anywho, I was super excited for her until she told me the guy was only 22. I’m not usually one to rain on a friend’s parade, but I had to be honest – I do NOT condone dating guys in their early 20s. Why? Because I’ve done it, and it was terrible. Now, I’m sure there are some great young 20-something guys out there, but no thanks. From my experience, they tend to be a bit flighty and flaky – only interested in hopping from one girl to the next. And at 24 and 25, I wanted to meet someone worth dating, and if it progressed into other things – great! I wasn’t interested in being someone’s Flavor of the Month. So, I have a hard time being positive about the situation when a friend embarks on the early 20-something adventure. There’s usually no good to come of it.

Long story short – my girl friend decided to try it out anyway, despite my warnings. Who could blame her? I’ve always preached my “I’ll try anything once” policy. Besides, I’m okay with a little game of I Told You So.

So, my girl friend went on an official date with him last night, and she sent me the following laundry list this morning about why she discovered they’re in TOTALLY different places in their life, and she doesn’t see it going anywhere. I nearly spit my coffee out after reading her list. He:

• Has never traveled, and doesn’t really want too
• Has no interest in going into Seattle from the suburb he lives in
• Doesn’t like to spend more than $10 on a meal
• Smokes weed
• Deals weed
• Likes to set off fireworks and “blow shit up”
• Has ADD
• Let his 21-year-old ex, who works at a tanning salon, move in with him because she cant afford anything
• But by “move in with him,” he really meant “move in with his parents” because he’s still in college and lives at home
• They went to Costco to buy groceries [before their date] for his MOM

Dream lover come rescue meeee!

NOT.

Currently Feeling: Stressed out about this article I have to have written by the end of the week, but really enjoying researching for it.
Currently Anticipating: Five days of fun events and parties!
Currently Listening To: My all time favorite – Pearl Jam. I’ll never grow out of them.

Turkey weekend highlights, peppered with lots o tryptophan

I took the 4.5-day Thanksgiving break to fall off the Internet wagon, so to speak, totally failing in my intended last push to completion of NaBloPoMo. Bummer dude.

But, a little failure in one category is usually necessary to get ahead in another. The category I focused on this weekend was my SANITY. Corporate America stresses me out, to say the least. So I took a break from everything for nearly five glorious stress-free days. And here they are in brief:

Wednesday: Went on a totally unnecessary payday shopping trip to Nordies where I purchased the most absolutely beautiful grey suede, flat boots that my feet are stuck in. Literally. STUCK. I don’t think I’ll ever get a pair of heels on again.

After my shopping trip, I got all gussied up and met the usual pre-Thanksgiving college party suspects out at The Wild Rover in Kirkland. The night would have gone on without one little drunken debauchery hitch if it weren’t for the fact that Baby Daddy’s ex showed up at the bar. This is the first time I’ve seen her, in person, since we’ve been together. I was reminded why their kid is so damn cute; she’s pretty. Dammit. But then I was reminded why he likes me so much—she’s kinda loco. I’m not so much. Well, unless you put a marshmallow pie in front of me, then I’m totally loco. Bitch watch out! No you didn’t just try to eat my marshmallow pie!

Thursday: Went to go see Four Christmases with my parents. Do you know how long I’ve stared at the word “Christmases,” second-guessing myself on that spelling? Just seems a little loco. Kinda like the ex. Anywho, totally a movie I recommend. So yeah, it’s a romantic comedy, which are always a bit cheesy and predictable, but it’s still pretty funny. Like a modern National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. I dug it. Then I dug my face into my mother’s Thanksgiving feast and passed out on my BF’s couch after watching slews of terrible Christmas movies (Read: Queen Latifah is dying and so she spends her last couple weeks avoiding motorcycle-humping sex with L.L. Cool J. What about this says Merry Christmas; I don’t know.)

Friday: Most people spend Black Friday shopping for inexpensive Christmas presents for friends and family. I spent it shopping for myself. Tis’ the season. My Black Friday booty includes a charging dock/radio/alarm for my iPod, a prize for the winner at my holiday wine party, a new cheese cutting board and knife, 50 space-saving hangers to continue my Closet Make-Over Mission (this won’t fail like the Underwear Overhaul Mission) camel-colored motorcycle boots, a matching camel-colored belt, two new tops to layer with my boots and a pair of earrings that I TOTALLY needed to add to the other 100 pairs I own. Merry Christmas to me.

Saturday: After three days of doing virtually nothing, I was ready to hit the town again. Except everyone was either gone for the weekend or staying in again. So, Baby Daddy and I made it a date night with one of my favorite past times—bar hopping on lower Queen Anne. We started at Solo, my 26th birthday party location, where I ordered a couple of their Mojito Catalans (champagne instead of soda water, so lots o alcohol). We then bumped around to Jabu’s for a couple beers, and wrapped up our night with happy hour at Peso’s. Well, that’s not really how we ended our night, but that’s probably T.M.I. for you.

Sunday: A little breakfast at Noah’s Bagels, some coffee, some book shopping at my favorite local shop, and then home to lounge in PJs all day. I did laundry, watched Along Came Polly, cleaned the bathroom, watched Made of Honor (terribly cheesy), cleaned the kitchen, took a nap, read a book, reorganized my closet and cleaned my room—all in time for The Amazing Race and Desperate Housewives.

See it’s two nights of partying and three days of doing nothing that leads me to actually being productive. Why can’t I have this kind of schedule every week? I’d certainly feel a bit more caught-up and balanced.

Currently Feeling: Like my butt is numb. It’s spreading! I can tell the desk job is making it spread!
Currently Anticipating: Snuggling.
Currently Reading: In the Woods by Tana French.

The First OG Gangsta to Go

One of my Dolphin Sisters got engaged over the weekend.

Because of this, I’m a little sentimental today.

You spend your whole life, growing and changing with friends. Or, at least I’ve been very lucky to have a select number of girl friends who’ve been by my side since junior high. They’ve walked next to me during days I was too embarrassed to go to school, too heartbroken to get out of bed, too young to make the right decision, too in love to see straight, too sassy for my own good, too stubborn to say sorry, too self conscious to be myself in a crowd…

My point being—you spend 10 plus years with childhood friends, dreaming of college, boyfriends, careers and families. College came and went. Boys have come and gone. Careers are there and growing. But the day a best friend meets the very right person and commits to a lifetime is always a little surreal. It’s like the 13 single years you’ve spent together—when you’re number one to each other and no one else—flash before your eyes.

And do you know how many memories 13 years hold?

The very foundation of my being—years that formed my personality—are years spent with Larisa. We met in 7th grade. I was a lost girl who knew two people in a sea of converging elementary schools. When popularity and “being cool” start to count, two people don’t get you very far. But eventually familiar faces and the possibility of friendship begin to emerge from a crowd. And there was Larisa.

We played softball together every day after school during softball season; I snuck home illegally on her bus to rollerblade the Burke Gilman in the sunshine; we went every winter to Snoqualmie, where we learned how to snowboard while listening to “Tool,” eventually teaching classes together. We shared the exact same sense of humor and disregard for rules that got us in trouble. A lot. (Voted Biggest Rebel 2000 ) Ha ha. We have so many inside jokes, I couldn’t even being to explain or list them.

In high school, we went to countless dances together. We’d skip school to gamble and get cinnamon bread from Great Harvest Bread Company during second period break. We started our careers at McDonalds, where eventually we were banned from working together cause we got in trouble for having a fight with all-purpose cleaner water bottles in the lobby. We went to Korn concerts (weird), Limp Bizkit (funny), Pearl Jam, The Gorge, Dave Mathews and countless more shows. We’d play Doctor Mario after school for no less than four hours, an unhealthy amount of days in a row. We drove around in my 1973 Volkswagen Beetle that was painted to look like a root beer float, yelling, “PERVERT!” to people walking out of Taboo Video every time we drove by, and stopped to smoke raspberry ciggies on the docks in Kenmore. I lived in her room for a month during senior year, where we’d share clothes and sneak out to bowl at Kenmore Lanes.

Come college, we went to separate schools, but I’d come home to spend the night in her sorority, and we backpacked through Europe. I’d bring her pineapple and tomato pizzas the summer I came home to deliver pizzas for Papa Johns, and she lived in a fraternity at the U.W. We’ve been to Mexico together, twice, drinking far too much tequila and dancing in our Mexican sundresses. We’ve been Captain Hook and Smee, his first mate–and Jem and Pizazz, one of The Holograms.

We’ve had terrible arguments, circumstances or relationships that have sometimes put distance between us, but we’ve always come back eventually, always rollerblading together every summer just like the days we were 13.

And then, she became my Dolphin Sister. After drinking a little too much one night, she sent me an e-mail that she didn’t remember until I called her the next day. Something about how she’s glad we’ve been friends for so long, and made it through all our ups and downs. “I think we must have been sisters in our past lives?! I kinda think I was a dolphin, so maybe we were dolphin sisters?,” she wrote. It has been a joke forever since. We buy each other cheap dolphin trinkets and wear dolphin rings on our fingers. (Both on our ring fingers because it’s the only one it fits). As cheesy and silly as it might be, I believe it is our way of reiterating how important our friendship is to one another, and that we really do love each other as a sister.

So, yesterday her Dolphin Sister ring was replaced with a platinum diamond.

But it’s not a replacement for our friendship.

You get to pick your friends. And you get to pick ONE person, to spend the rest of your life with, who becomes a part of the life you’ve shared with all your friends.

I picked Larisa, and she chose me.

And Larisa picked Dave, and he chose her.

And that makes Dave, my Dolphin Brother to-be.

I couldn’t be happier for them. And I can’t wait for another 13 years of friendship with Larisa—AND Dave.

Congratulations!

Currently Feeling: Mucho happy it’s supposed to be in the 70s all week.
Currently Anticipating: Picnicking and rollerblading in Alki tonight with the BF.
Currently Loving: Work dresses! I can’t buy enough!

Just what the doctor ordered

Despite my attempts to lower the amount of money I’m spending on dining out and groceries ($350 last month!), I enjoyed two very satisfying sushi dinners out this week with two of my girl friends from college.

On Tuesday I met up with my old college dorm roommate, Sarah. We were two peas in a pod freshman year of college. We drank like fish, snowboarded together in the Winter and stayed up late, talking in the dark about our high school days and aspirations for our future. I have funny college party stories with Sarah that still make me laugh to this day. Once, we went to a random house party together, got really silly of Bush Light in a can and ended up having to run from the cops. Sarah had put our 24-pack of Bush in a bush outside the house, and we couldn’t stop laughing and saying in our cheap beer stupor, “The Bush is in the bush!” I think that is something you can only find funny after six cans of watered down beer in college. I also shared my first 40 oz. with her during Thirsty Thursday parties a guy we knew would have at his off-campus house. I had never drank a 40 before, so I didn’t know that it wasn’t really necessary to drink twoooo. Oh lord. The night went something along the lines of her driving my car 50 mph down the middle of campus with me hanging out the sunroof, making out with some guy, and eventually getting pulled over by a cop. Sarah quickly explained that I was teaching her to drive a stick—even though it was 3:30 a.m.—and we got off Scott free. These, my friends, are only things I would attempt during my dumb college days. Now, I’m much more mature and safe with my drinking. Or something.

I have a lot of good memories with Sarah. But, we went our separate ways after a bad roommate situation when we lived in a house with three other girls our junior year, and then we had busy separate lives once we were both involved in our major. During the last couple years, she’s been in the Peace Corps in Mali and just moved back to Seattle in November. She found me on Facebook, and we set up a dinner date for this week. Immediately, it was easy to talk to her and laugh together just like we did in our early days of college. She shared some of the pictures and videos with me from her time in Mali, and then we ventured onto Chiso, a sushi restaurant in Fremont. I am always talking about my need to expand my horizons with restaurants, specifically sushi because I tend to find myself always falling back on my favorite sushi staple—Wasabi Bistro. I was very impressed with Chiso—a laid-back and warm atmosphere and an eclectic menu with unique sushi rolls. We ended up splitting two rolls, and continued our five-year catch up. The two of us have taken very different paths after college, but it’s nice to feel like neither of us have changed that much. I left the restaurant and dropped her off, smiling at the opportunity to connect with a really good friend from my past.

AND because I seem to drift in and out of sushi-obsession phases, I had been thinking about Wasabi Bistro all week when I received an email from my good college girl friend, Bri. We planned to meet up last night, and she made reservations at Wasabi. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on their decadent rolls—and a glass of white wine after work. Bri and I enjoyed an awesome girly dinner together. We talked about my current obsession—getting a Masters degree in Advertising—because she works in advertising at Microsoft and currently is pursuing her MBA. Of course there was a little boy-talk too. What dinner with girl friends is complete without it?

So, that was my week. A little dreaming about grad school, a little sushi and a lot of girl talk. Can’t complain, really.

Currently Feeling: Disconnected from my boy. Argh!
Currently Anticipating: Drinking all weekend and playing in the snow with my Dolphin Sisters.
Currently Wanting: A volunteer trip to Africa, and a vacation to somewhere tropical. If only I had a million dollars.