Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Today at work my boss suggested we sing Christmas carols. When I heard this I pulled out my ear pods and turned around to look at the crazy man. That's when I spotted cold, white, wet stuff falling out the window behind him. Yup. Its spring and snowing in Seattle. I may have lived through a winter here, but I still think snow is something you should visit- not the other way around.

Random moments

I had to post this picture of chickens. They are in the front yard of a house just a few houses down from the townhouse where my community group meets. The townhouse is not out in the country, it is in the middle of the city. This struck me as funny, and I didn’t think anyone would believe me, so I took a picture.
For date night a couple weeks ago we went to one of my favorite restaurants, The High Life, and then to a movie. Once we were seated my favorite tour guide told me that at first the theater owners couldn’t decide what to call their company. Eventually they named it Elttaes, which is Seattle spelled backwards. After the movie we started to walk a few blocks to his car. Halfway there he picked me up and carried me for a bit. What can I say? My guy is romantic and shares my love of trivia.
My orientation for class is Saturday. Once I’ve completed it I can sign up for the Pre-Calc course I want to take. I’m hoping to get it and Business Calc over with as soon as possible. As much as I’m dreading taking any kind of math course again I am looking forward to starting school. Partly in order to make friends, partly to enjoy being in class again.
The best for last: A few months ago I was visiting my family. As usual we were had a family dinner and afterwards my sister said she had presents for everyone. There didn’t seem to be a special reason but I didn’t really think anything of it. She then handed a children’s book to each of my parents. My mom got Katie No Pockets, which is her favorite. While she was flipping through the pages my dad softly called her name and told her to read the inscription on the first page. After she did my older sister and I got books as well. Mine is one of my favorites, Corduroy. In it she had written “For G, To read to your new niece or nephew.”
I couldn’t believe it. My younger sister is pregnant with her first baby! Since she’s discussing it on her blogs, I’m guessing it’s safe to talk about it on mine. She and her husband are very happy and are going to be great parents. They recently found out that they are having a boy, and I can’t wait to hold my brand new nephew. They won’t tell me what his name is yet, and I’m enjoying looking forward to being introduced to him all at once.

A departure from the norm

I don't often talk about my faith. To me it is an intensely personal thing and is the absolute core of who I am. Not everyone gets to be that intimate with me. I will share what I believe to a certain extent, but what I pray about, what I struggle with, and my questions on how faith applies to the practical are for those closest to me. That said, this is something I want to share.

I don't know how long its been since I've been moved by a sermon. I have heard interesting sermons, and have liked some quotes, but not much more than that. Then I read a book called "The Velvet Elvis" and was blown away. For the first time in a long time I heard a new perspective on scripture. It is an incredible book and a fairly easy read. It reminded me that I used to have a heart for God and how strong my faith once was. I realized that I had been starving myself spiritually and a huge part of my unhappiness was a lack of actively living a Christian life.

When I moved to Seattle I was given a list of churches people recommended. One was called Mars Hill, and at the time I thought it was connected to the guy that wrote "The Velvet Elvis." Turns out its not, and the pastor has issues with that author, but this church is what I needed. I highly recommend checking out the sermons posted on line. The current series on misconceptions has been incredible, and very thought provoking for me. This is the first time that I have found a "lecture" outside of college that made me hungry for more information. What I really loved about it though was that for the first time a pastor gave a sermon directly aimed at singles. Most churches I've been to pretty much ignore the fact that there are people like me who are struggling with how to be a Christian adult and do things like date. It was amazing.

I am meeting with a community group from the church for the first time on Monday. I am hoping I will fit in and be able to make friends with other Christians. I want to have a place to call home again, and people that I know have the same core beliefs as me. It is something I have missed, and I'm not sure how I've gotten along without it. Then again maybe I didn't. Life got pretty bad, and I had to move two states away to start over. Maybe a church family can help me to live the life I want, and help me figure out how to become more like someone I can respect.

Here's hoping.

Somewhere Betwen Raising Hell and Amazing Grace

A lot has happened since I last posted. The most entertaining is that today the Denny's in Ballard was been declared a historic landmark. I'm not kidding. Ballard is my favorite neighborhood due to things like this. It’s a quirky area that still sports "Free Ballard" shirt, bumper stickers, and posters. A few weeks ago I went to a wine bar there with my boyfriend and a few friends. We each ordered different wines and sampled each other's choice. We also split a cheese platter and chacutrie. It felt like I was back in Paris.
I also had two really good friends come and visit me. The first was a friend that I've known since I was 13. We got sushi for dinner and it was great to actually have someone around that enjoys the stuff. Afterwards we went to my friend's house to hang out. My boyfriend arrived just after we did. Before the front door opened he had caught my attention, walked up to us, and picked up my friend (literally) and turned her upside down. He has a wicked sense of humor. Luckily she found this hilarious and the two of them got along.
The second friend is the person who inspired me to move to Seattle. She is also a great cook and gave me a couple of cooking lessons while she was here. We went to Pike Place Market for our supplies and had fun poking around the stalls. I discovered a couple of hidden alleys that have really great shops. Everything there is produced locally and is cheaper than going to the grocery store. To an extent the market is a tourist destination, but a lot of locals use it for their weekly shopping. As much fun as shopping was the best part was having girlfriends around again. I love my life here, but I miss having girlfriends closer than on the other end of the phone.
One of the best things to happen recently is that I finally found a church to call home. For the first time in years I found a church where I feel comfortable. I don't believe blindly, and this church encourages questions. It’s also the first time that I've heard a new approach to verses I've heard all my life. They also have small groups, somewhat like a bible study group, for different age groups. I've contacted one of them and hopefully it will be a way to make Christian friends.
In other news work is getting better. I’m learning now in leaps and bounds and I’m making headway. The mountain of work doesn’t seem to decrease any, but that’s okay. I’m just happy that I can function somewhat on my own. Sadly the old guy that I used to work with has decided that because I’m now getting trained by someone he profoundly dislikes that I have gone to the dark side. When he told me this I laughed and told him, “of course I did, they have cookies.” He didn't find that as funny as I did. Mostly because he thought he was missing out on actual cookies.
As for Valentines it was great, but the week started off pretty bad. My boyfriend had been having headaches for weeks. When he finally went into the doctor the doctor became concerned it could be a blood vessel causing the problem. A couple appointments and an MRI later it was discovered that it was a nerve that got infected. He was put on a round of steroids and everything is fine now. The unfortunate result of all this is that he was unable to go on a business trip.
Since he was in town he had to be point man for those that did go and told me that he would have to work late. He called me about eight that night. He told me that he had just got home and asked if I wanted to do a late dinner. I said yes and he asked that I call him when I was leaving. A few min later I grabbed by coat, set the alarm, and then opened my front door with my phone in hand. Sitting in front of my door was a bouquet of flower, a box of chocolates, and a chocolate espresso bar. He was standing around the corner and grinning.
We went to dinner at a local place and he was chatty through the whole thing. This is a guy that has been nicknamed “Silent Bob” by my friend from college. He was also bouncing in his seat and fiddling with everything. When I took the last piece of silverware away from him he finally told me that the side effect of his meds was abundant energy. I laughed and then offered to take him for a walk. After a long tour of the area we ended up at a two story book store. So while the week started off rocky, the holiday for me consisted of roses, chocolate, dinner, wine, and books. I couldn’t have asked for a better night.

Where to start?

Christmas was wonderful. I flew home a few days beforehand and was able to celebrate a friend's graduation from college with her. Even better the celebration lunch was at a fantastic Mexican restaurant. It was nice to finally get some decent Mexican food. I hadn't had any since my family's Mexican Thanksgiving. Afterwards I got to spend time with a good friend, and later had good sushi with a couple of gal pals. It wasn't until I was there that I realized how much I miss have close girl friends near by. I've met some great people here, I'm just not as close to them as to the wonderful friends I left in CA.

The best part of Christmas though was just spending time with my family. No matter what I seem to do to my apartments just don't feel like home. Or at least not completely like home. Don't get me wrong, I like living on my own. I like being able to decorate the places I live, and I look forward to getting back to my own bed after I've been away.

Still, I get homesick. Its not something I really notice until I'm on the road to my parents, and its worse when I'm leaving them. When I first went away to college I used to call my friends on my cell as I was heading out. I would have them distract me until I was too far away to turn back. Its not really any easier to leave now. The only real difference is planes don't wait for reluctant passengers, and my dad can't just drive me home like he did when I missed my train.

After returning to Seattle for a few days I flew to Kauai a spent a week there with a friend. The weather was a huge welcome change and the air there was so incredibly soft. We went all over the island mostly just enjoying each other's company. New Year's was spent in our room watching a good movie and drinking champagne. Before you think that's pathetic you should know beach was twenty feet from my room. Hanging out there was not boring or a hardship in the least.

I think the best part of the week was when we went snorkeling. We paid for passage on a catamaran and took a tour of the Napali coast, which is only accessible by boat and is breathtakingly beautiful. On our way back up the coast towards where we would actually snorkel we saw humpback whales. They weren't very close but we got to see a couple of them breaching and I loved it.

Returning to work was not fun. Things are going better and I'm learning more every day. I'm now working without help, and to my horror I'm discovering that my help created a number of problems. Granted, he was more help than hindrance, but now I have to figure how he did what he did, and then undo it. On the upside my coworkers are warming up to me and I now have people to talk to. I'm also getting to know my boss and he's pretty entertaining. This week he started singing "Mercedes Benz" by Janis Joplin.

The only really odd thing is that I haven't seen my roommate in about three weeks. Between my trips out of town and hers we keep missing each other. It feels like I live with a ghost. At times its nice. I like having the apartment to myself and not having to worry about waking her as I get ready for work in the morning. To celebrate I've been turning the radio up so that I can hear it as I wander from room to room getting ready. Its nothing big, but its a luxury I miss from when I lived alone.

The only other thing I have to update is that I finally had time while I was in Kauai to do some reading. Its been far too long since I had the chance to get lost in a book and drown out the world. I finished five books while I was there and I'm almost done with a sixth. To some that may sound like a waste of a vacation, but to me it was paradise. Actually, I think I'm going to go finish my book now. I should have just enough time before I have to go to dinner. If not, I hope I'll hear the phone when my tour guide calls to ask where I am.

Where the lovelight gleams

One of my all time favorite Christmas songs is "I'll be home for Christmas." I'm not sure why I've loved it so much. I've spent every single Christmas that I can remember with my family. This Christmas will very happily be no exception. However, it will be the second Christmas that I can remember where I won't wake up at the crack of dawn with my younger sister. It was an odd sensation last year to wake up at a decent hour, and to wonder out to join my parents. I'm used to my sister waking me up when it is still dark and going to see what Santa left in our stockings. We aren't extremely close, but I did miss her last year and I'm glad that she and her husband will be spending the holiday with our family.
In other holiday news I helped host a holiday dinner last weekend. I made a chocolate cake that has a pound of chocolate in just the frosting, and a bruschetta pizza that was better than I had thought it would be. Our friends brought food and we laughed and talked as we prepared everything. While some of us were in the kitchen others had turned on the Wii and were playing some sort of Mario Brothers game. For some reason instead of turning it off they decided to leave it on while we ate. So instead of Christmas music playing in the background, my holiday dinner party was serenaded by Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Daisy, Mario and others. When someone finally commented on it we all cracked up. Most of the people there were hard core gamers, but all of us had played Nintendo growing up. The music hasn't really changed in all these years and we all had stories about the music driving parents crazy.
There was one upside. After dinner I was helping to clean up while others finished playing the game. When I went to grab something off the table my boyfriend teased me by trying to poke my belly button. I laughed and tried to spin away while grabbing his hand to stop him. He spun me back around and we ended up dancing and laughing in the middle of the kitchen. All in all it was a great night.

Wine is bottled poetry

I never really drank in high school. I may have had a sip or two of wine that an uncle had brought to dinner, but that was it. It wasn't until I was twenty and attending summer school in Paris that I started drinking. While I was there I learned to appreciate wine. Kind of hard not to when you're visiting the regions wines are named after. Since then I've had good wine, just nothing like I had last week.

My favorite tour guide and I were invited to his roommate's birthday dinner last Tuesday. The roommate is half Japanese, and his father is this adorable tiny Japanese man who can cook native Hawaiian dishes. The food was all made from scratch and utterly fantastic. Best out of all he prepared was the best duck I've had since I was served it at Chateau Chenonceau. That is the only dish whose name I can remember. Well, that and the incredible chocolate cake, but who is going to forget that?

As wonderful as the food was, the wine was better. It started off with champagne that tasted great even thought it was brut. After that we had merlots, cabernets, and a pinot noir that smelled so good I wanted to eat the air. Our host was so delighted that he had guests that appreciated wine he kept bringing out different bottles. We didn't get drunk. Those of us that weren't driving may have gotten a tad fuzzy, but that's it. Our host only poured enough to be appreciated each time.

The pièce de résistance was the port that was served with dessert. I've never had it before, so I was given a crash course. Just like with wine there are a number of different types. Unlike with wine, the different types are an indicator of quality. The top of the line is vintage port, and one of the absolutely best years is 1977. That's the year the roommate was born, which is why the host had a bottle of it. He purchased it that year and kept it for his son's 30th birthday.

All in all dinner was wonderful.

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry
Ecclesiastes 10:19