lunch date

Yikes, five days no posting??

Saturday and Sunday were pretty chill. I just hung out at home and relaxed and caught up on sleep and laundry. Ma and Pa came over and we picked apples and had tea and chats. Monday was a shorter day at work. Got things done, did fruit prep, rotated the mattress on a deep clean. Later in the day, I went to Seabeck for the night. Ma, Pa and I watched Eddie the Eagle and ate pizza. Eddie the Eagle was cute and fun. Very heartwarming.

Tuesday was great fun! Dad made hashbrowns and eggs for breakfast and tasty coffee, and we all piled in to the Prius to head to SeaTac. I had the thought that maybe since SeaTac is near where John works, that we could grab lunch if timing worked out and it did! So after the parentals were sent off, I went to the Panera in Renton and had lunch with my boyfriend. How nice!

Then I drove to Bremerton and hung out with Karen and Lily. We had good long conversations, and I read King Baby by Kate Beaton to Lily. Nice to hang with my pal, even though now she's an old married lady.

From there I went to see Tickled at the Dragonfly Theater. It's a documentary about someone looking into this Extreme Tickling Competition, and it escalates into this really bizarre story of evil people with money and the lives they destroy. It's just...really something else.

Swapped cars in Seabeck, went back to Pulali, worked today.

Little short shift with a few fluffs and a turn. Then Christa and Bodi were in town, so we met up downtown to hang out! I gave Bodi lots of pets and we sat out in the sun and caught up. Then I got a hot dog.

Half napped at home, then drew a comic. Just got my schedule, weekend after this one I have four days off in a row, I should do something fun. Then it's a bunch of rando days on and off.

four day weekend

Four day weekend! My internet is functional again and I don't know what happened.

For Karen's bachelorette party I planned a low key scavenger hunt just me, her, Lily, Thea, and Thea's son Roldan. Didn't want a big huge todo. Also that takes more planning than I can manage.

So I made a scavenger hunt book. It had four different locations, each with a limerick where the last line was shuffled so she'd have to figure out what we were doing! And when she figured it out, she could open the envelope which contained the zine with the hunt lists. The book was a long strip of paper that was accordion folded, with the clues put into library book slip holders, and an envelope on the opposite page. All stuck together with double stick tape. Very happy with it, and it took a lot of work. Watched half a season of Scrubs while working on the drawings. Was up late, and got up early to get on over for the hunt.

I got all the way to Silverdale, where I was going to pick up the van from Ma and Pa, when I realized I had left my purse at home!!!! AHHHH!! But Thea pulled through: she borrowed her sister's van and I went back home, got my purse, and went to Karen's. Though with that extra driving I had to stop for gas on the way there. Uhhhgg. So a 12:30 start was moved to 2, but thankfully plans were flexible.

I presented Karen with the book and she loved it! She said "oh wow" several times. Success! I figured she'd dig the hunt, and a low key day of hanging out.

First was people watching in the park! We saw many babies and Seahawks fans and one not a Seahawks fan. Couldn't find all the people, but we found many! Because of the delay of time, we missed rain. It was sunny and awesome. Lily was cute, Roldan played on the toys, we looked out for the different people to complete the list. Then we went to the corner store and got some treats. They had Faygo there! Like dang! And even a sign saying not to steal Faygo otherwise they'll stop carrying it. Karen worked on the type finding part of her hunt.

Next was the second hand searching. There was not time for the 4th one: vintage shopping, but there was time for Goodwill! Karen found almost all the cookbook clues, but not as many of the corporate ones. Thea spotted a great skirt that was super cute and I bought it and now it's my favorite skirt. Great pattern! And it stays down! I tried on all the silly heels at Goodwill. Makes me really appreciate how well made my bridesmaid heels are.

After Goodwill, we went back to Thea's parent's place and hung out there with Alonso and Mavis and Masa. We had roast beast for dinner and carrots and potatoes and rice and it was awesome. Lily was dropped off at Skate Land with Rob so he got some daddy daughter skate time in. Karen filled us in more on what the wedding scheduling will be like. It's so soon!! ahhhh!!

I drew the comic at Karen's and then went home.

I dozed pretty heavily today. Catching up on much needed rest. Played vidya games. Napped. Ate pasta with shrimp in the alfredo sauce. Yum!

Now I got a short work day tomorrow. Breakfast so nighty night!

lots of comics, not much done

OH MY GOOOOOD so I've had a few days of my internet being absolutely rubbish so it was hard to post, on top of my computer continually overheating. Just THE WORST.

So sorry.

So it's Saturday night and the last time I wrote was Monday night. Eep!

Work was good. Got everything done with time to spare on all the shifts. I had Thursday off and I went swimming in the canal, which is a lovely blue shade due to a plankton bloom, and there was a Denny's carton with two slices of ham that someone had tossed in the canal. That was properly disposed of on land. I went to Bremerton after that and baby sat Lily! I changed a poopy diaper even! Rob was home earlier than expected, but I still looked after Lily. Went for a walk. Tried to get her to nap but she was too stoked by the walk. Gave her lots of hugs and cheek kisses. What a great little baby. When Karen returned, Rob took Lily to rollerskating and K & I ran errands and she bought me dinner and we chatted and it was nice. And I was given my bridesmaid shoes which are SUPER HOT and great. Need to wear them in a little.

I saw Star Trek Beyond on Friday. It was fun! A nice straightforward movie with fun moments, and serious moments. But it didn't try too hard to be a big serious movie. It felt very Star Trek. I'm tired of grimdark blockbusters and this was very colorful.

I watered the plants. It's been very hot. So hot. Work is just like hot sweaty time. The fans do very little. I need to go grocery shopping. Down to toast and eggs.

Hmmm. What else has happened in this past week?

It's so frustrating to have computer and internet issues. The new laptop, I need to get a cord so I can connect it to my monitor. Right now it doesn't and my old computer has all my stuff on it so I'm not inclined to switch over, but I am. Slowly. Bit by bit.

grand days out

Oh! So much to catch up on.

So I had a lovely weekend in Seattle. I headed out at around 3ish, which gave me ample time to breakfast and doze. I parked in a garage in Capitol Hill which was surprisingly affordable for 24 hours. Only had a little bit of traffic at the usual Tacoma intersection. I'd rather drive to the ferry, park there, and walk across. But I was going to Averie's party after so I drove around. But first a date with John. I like him. He's into watches, movies, travel, circus acrobatics. And he makes a damn good cocktail. We went to see a movie from SIFF's Noir festival: The Seventh Victim. It's odd to watch older movies because they have such a different language for how editing and stories play out. It was good though. Surprisingly dark.

And in the morning (I stayed over, oooohhhh!) (and it was so hard to sleep because cities are so loud and light!!) we got breakfast sammies at the farmer's market. John got a flat of various berries and some farm fresh eggs.

These crust punks were throwing glass bottles at a cement seating area, and they shattered and like...how much of an asshole do you have to be to think that is okay? And the type of people who throw full whole bottles of alcohol aren't the types you want to confront, they might punch you in the throat. Uhg.

John and I parted ways at 1. I met up with Mariel and her boyfriend Sanouk at Starbucks. We had a quick coffee and catch up and chat. Mariel looks so great! We're both wishy washy on attending our HS reunion.

After I walked down to Top Pot and got a raspberry thumbprint and powdered doughnut. I listened to two Amazon or Microsoft engineers ramble about very typical engineer things. Once I was sugared up on doughnut, I returned to my car and headed off to the beach. Parking was a nightmare and I got a spot way down south from the beach, then spent half an hour wandering up and down trying to find Averie and her shindig. Eventually ran into Muchim who was able to direct me to Averie! But at that point in the day it was time for me to head home. Hung out for a little bit though, and gave some hugs.

There was some construction I got stuck in for a little bit, but afterwards it wasn't such a bad drive. I didn't bother with the ferry. I'd rather spend more time in my car and save the money. I got some food stuffs at Central Market on the way back. I'm such a sucker for musubi.

Got back at 9. Drew. Got to bed at midnight.

Restless night sleep because I thought I hadn't paid my electric bill. I was in that weird half sleep state where you can't just pull yourself out to check you did pay it (I did).

We did seven turns at work, and it went pretty quick. The tag teaming + 1 on laundry and beds makes for fast turn around. I did cookies and folded laundry too. At home I took a nap and a dip in the canal. Now I'm tired again.

I so very narrowly avoided a massive sunburn. I got pink but no hurt.

baby party

 Thanks for the info about the propane lamp, mum! I only burned it for an hour but that's good to know.

Work on Thursday was good. Ginger and I busted out three turns, two fluffs (someone tucked in two stuffed frogs in their bed it was very cute) and laundry and floors. Ginger managed the laundry and I folded what remained at the end. A busy, productive day! I helped halfway check a couple in (the room wasn't quite ready). After work I went to Goodwill and browsed for some time. I found a cute dress, a green track jacket, and a cowboy print shirt. Nice finds all in all. Also there was a totally ridiculous dress that scootched so high up and didn't fit right in most places.

After Goodwill, I went to my coworker Erin's for her sons 1st birthday. A shindig I wouldn't think I'd attend a few years ago but I ended up having a great time! Her husband Ben (who looks like Anthony Roberto) made some very good beef & elk burgers and I talked to lots of nice people. There were lots of around one year olds, but they were all pleasant and happy and almost no crying. The babies were Fred, Henry, Lily (different Lily), Forrest, Anders, and..I think that's it? I met Erin's brother Paul and Erin's friend Dan who delivers mail. And there was cake! It was nice. I asked baby questions and no one seemed like a hyper psycho parent. Odd how one grows.

At home I took a nap and just fell asleep super hardcore.

I have a three day weekend!! And I'm not planning on going anywhere. Today I dozed fitfully, played lots of Faster Than Light (did I mention I beat the Rebel Flagship??? That's the boss! And I beat it!!). My computer kept overheating. I worked on dishes. I made a to do list. Took out the compost. Watered some plants. Have other organizing to be done. I can probably thin my closet a bit because I won't be needing the heavy coats for many months.

too little cooks

Yesterday was a fun bout of errands! I returned that player with no fuss, went to Seabeck and rifled through the house while talking to Ma and Dad let me borrow his player. And they let me have the Far Side collection! Yay! And I picked up my box of Trilly Stuff. Then I went to Bremerton and hung out at Bremerton Letterpress Company with Karen and Marit and Lily. Cute little baby. We cuddled a bit and she didn't wail and was generally a good little baby. Gave out a couple zines. Swung by Trader Joe's and bought supplies for my potluck dish for the wedding. Going to try to make strawberry shortbread! Spoiler alert: the biscuits didn't work so now it's strawberries and whipped cream.

At home I drew the comic and chilled and played some vidya games.

Today I dozed and talked to Celia and tidied house a little and did laundry and failed at making biscuits. Tried three recipes! But I think my cream substitution was sabotaging me and it was too late in the day to go buy milk. But I think strawberries prepared with a dash of OJ and sugar, topped with fresh whipped cream would make a nice little side dessert. There might be a pie for it to go on top of. I'd rather that than show up with storebought biscuits.

Now I've drawn out the map (I'm taking the exit you suggest pops) and made note of what to do tomorrow. So it's off to bed with me! Don't want to get out of here too late. There's a two hour window to arrive, set up tent, and get to the ceremony. Which is pretty good, but I don't want to risk it. Who knows what Sunday traffic will be like? I'm happy I have a portable phone charger. My a/c charger in my car never seems to work.

See y'all on Monday!

comfortably busy

Almost a week behind at this point, I think barring my road trip I've never gotten this behind.

So where do I begin? Oh! I think I'm going to get my own internet because it's much too difficult to troubleshoot when I'm boosting it from Celia's and a reliable connection would be awesome, and then I can move my wifi booster to the garage so that it extends up there for guests!

Work was fine. Did I cover that I double teamed rooms with Ginger? We did it so fast when we worked together! I also did some gardening. Simple weeding. And a deep clean on one room and now it looks so good. The main offender was removing scuff marks. I need to learn how to make spam musubi. It's so good.

The power went out, and I remembered after the fact it was scheduled. The batteries in the big lamp are dead so I got the propane going no problem (barring maybe turning it up a bit too much to start).

I decided to go down to Portland for Bridgetown Comedy Fest. I want to see more comedy this year and the shows seemed fun and there were some people I wanted to see perform (Eliza Skinner mostly) so I thought, why not take a day and go see a few things? And then since Doug Fir was close to Mel, I asked if she wanted to see a thing with me and she said yeah! So I left at 3 and got to a very warm Portland at 6:30. Parked in residential, met up with Mel and off we walked down Burnside to the Doug Fir, which is a venue I've been to before for a Violent Pink show.

The first show of the night was Baked! which was a combo music and standup thing. Steve Agee and Brendan Smalls fronted a band and did some jokes and there was a bassist and piano guy and drummer and they jammed and I left the program I grabbed at Mel's so I can't double check the names. So they played songs and mashed some up and joked and had doughnuts as it was National Doughnut Day and an audience member tried to stuff one in her face on a dare and she couldn't do it.

Eliza Skinner killed it. She was hilarious and she sung a song with the band and it was AWESOME. Sara Schaefer also killed it. Both excellent hilarious ladies. Julian McCollugh wasn't such a great follow up, though it's interesting to see someone not do totally well. But hey, Portland isn't the best city to make moderately racist jokes in. He wasn't booed but he did get the light (the timing light) and I wonder if that made it so Jonah Ray couldn't do a set. He stilled jammed with the band and was an excellent drummer AND singer. But I'd have liked to have seen him do a set (limited time at the show, ya know). Still, it was excellent and I was happy to have Mel there with me. She's an awesome person!

We hugged and I hoofed it down to Yamhill to see the Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction show at Refuge PDX. A bigger space and I met Evan Dumas there (one half of Man's Face Stuff) who had a pass to the show and is such a great guy that he'd be willing to see a very filthy comedy show with me. The eight comedians were divided into two rounds. One half had prepared material, the other half had suggestions and went on later in the show. So they read out loud written fan fictions about different topics. Slaughterhouse Five, DB Cooper, Party of Five, Star Wars...and it was raunchy and gross and hilarious and awful and amazing all at once. Sabrina Jalees won for her Party of Five piece (which was well deserved and I hollered for her the loudest). Star Wars though, by Dan Telfner (Tenfler err I could Google but I'm lazy) was a close second.

The next round had Gus from The Simpsons by Bill Dwyer. Jurassic Park by err... John F D'Onnell. Another guy did Pantera and he'd obviously not heard of the band and had wikipedia'd them and it was a pretty brilliant piece of writing with lots of references to their song titles followed by "like our song?" "yes, like our song". And Moshe Kasher, you know...from NPR, closed it out with an eloquent narrative about Cthulhu that was...yeah. It was pretty gross and visual. He won. Tried to get Madeline to come to the show but she was tired.

From there, Evan and I walked back up to Burnside for the late show at Doug Fir. We had a nice chat and he ended up not watching the show due to being tired. But it's all good. I sat in the front and sketched and had a blast. Zak Toscani was MCing and he had a nice jacket. Matthew Brossaud Brossard Browhatever is MY AGE and recorded a special. He had really nice hair and a few good jokes. Andy Wood informed us that Ali had died. The murmur of us not knowing rippled through the audience. Bill Dwyer had kinda basic marriage material. Wasn't into it. Nick Youssef was hilarious and had a very tight and well paced set. I tweeted the drawings I did of him and he's retweeted him so he's pretty much my favorite right now, haaa. Sabrina Jalees was on this set too and she was great! My alarm went off during her set and thankfully it was timed well. I felt bad though. Totally forgot it was going to go off (it's a daily regular alarm reminder). Brooks Wheelan was drunk but in his defense it was after midnight in a fun city. And while he also got the light, he wasn't a total mess and did get some good jokes out. Dwayne Perkins closed it out with some kinda dated material about Americans not knowing the PM of Canada. Now they've got that dreamboat Trudeau...we know who their PM is. Still funny. A great set to end an amazing day on. I walked back to Mel and Alain's and we chilled for a bit then went to bed (they have a guest bed). In the morning Mel made AMAZING oatmeal with coconut and bits of apple. And her coffee was great.

After breakfast and chatting, I got in my car and headed north. I used the spare change of clothes I've had in my car for emergencies for several years. Always good to have a spare, and the pants fit better now than when I decided they would do in an emergency pinch (they were a bit tight at that point but not something to be thrown out). So in full pants and a black shirt I drove north and melted and got sweaty and gross and hated everything. I swung through Silverdale and ran errands and went home and stripped down and stood in the Hood Canal for a while to cool off. Then I napped and drew and cleaned house and went to bed.

So I think that brings us to today? Yeah Sunday. Baby shower day. I tidied up a bit. Did some laundry. Went up to Port Townsend for Raechel's baby shower. Coworker, ya know! She had the baby very quick. Early by a few days. I got to hold him for a second. The shrimp I gave to the boss were turned into the meal at the shower. A nice sort of ... shrimp thing to put on toast. Mixed with basil and tomatoes. Really good! Got compliments on the quality of the shrimp. Glad I could contribute. Cake was lemon curd and raspberry and was yummy. It was a nice turn out of most of the crew and everyone was nice. I like my coworkers and bosses. They're a good bunch. AND they said I could put stickers on my work bucket, huzzah!

I helped tidy then I went to QFC and managed to remember all the ingredients for the curry I want to make (I left the list at home). Took me a while to find the coconut milk. At home I got that crock potting, and I washed the car because it was getting a bit dusty and bug splatty. And now my curry is smelling pretty good. So I think on that note I'll go have a bit for a late dinner (actually I need to get the rice going) and tomorrow starts another work week. Then a four day weekend that includes a wedding!!! Then more work. Then might go to Seattle to see John.

My life is comfortably busy and I love it.

loving lovely people

First breakfast shift! Breakfast shifts are dish washing. Running the washer, filling a soapy sink and a rinsy sink and a sanitizing sink. Learned that. Did that. Two and a half hours of dishes and putting away dishes and seeing the breakfast rush. Doing it again tomorrow. Then I turned one room, fluffed three, and did the office carpet and bathroom. The office is also their bedroom and it has a FLIPPIN' MURPHY BED! I wasn't snooping, I saw an oddly large cabinet, suspected, asked, and Boss showed me. So cool!

And I wasn't too tired by the end of the day. AND I got left over frittata for lunch. It was delicious.

After work I went down to Better Living Through Coffee and Jeanette treated me to a drip coffee that was so good. Very drinkable. Or is it pour over? I think it might be pour over, not drip. Anyhoo. We chatted and it was a mile a minute and I felt like we could have talked for hours! I'm so happy I can spend more time with her! And we met up with Clay and his two lovely daughters and we had ice cream and sat in the rocking seat in Elevated Ice Cream. Such a great Saturday. We parted ways and I swung by the art supply store and they didn't have the ink pad I need for the prints so it looks like I'm going over to Sequim after one of my shifts next week because Doodlebugs will have the ink pad. Weird that there isn't a more artsy craftsy store in PT.

My energy pill came and it is almost a full thirty bucks cheaper than last years bill was at this time! I think this is due to dad fixing the wall heaters and thus they are not running hot and using a ton of energy. Hurray! I went through the PUD online records and wrote up a little chart so I can continue to track if the power goes down consistently with other pay period times. It was ten dollars MORE than it was in 2015 during the pay period in 2014, when I was not living here. So I bet the heaters were running hot then, which would have been when they would have been turned on probably all the time to get the house from becoming too cold when unoccupied for long periods of time. Hmmm!

And I paid the PUD bill because like...now it would appear I don't have to worry so hard about it. I was expecting it to be a lot more for the next few months till summer kicked in and I just shut off the heaters all together.

Drew a comic. Had noodles. Helped Celia. GOOD NIGHT!

Oh and I treated myself to a Playmobil blind bag figure and it was the flight attendant! She has a wheely suitcase and everything.

Helped Celia get her propane filled. Learned a thing! Pretty easy to get it filled and switch it over. Nice to learn life skills like that. Got up bright and early because she wanted to get it done early...but she was slow to get up. Still, nice to get going early. I'm tired now and have work tomorrow.

I did take a nap later in the day.

Averie and Muchim came over for dinner. Over to Celia's. There was a nice rice pork thing for dinner and a roast that was cooking. And had some bread with Brie. Nice little family hang out. We are making plans to see The Little Mermaid at the Mountaineers Theater when it rolls around.

Honey was super affectionate towards me. Corbie was in the way.

Nighty night.

Galentine's Day 2016

Whoo had a pretty good fun little day. Did my makeup, coordinated my outfit (red floral shirt with red beret with bug brooch on the beret), and headed out! Swung through Silverdale and dropped off a letter to get it in the post before USPS stops for the holiday. Picked up mail in Seabeck and had lunch with Ma & Pa. Rainbow sent me an amazing print and other little printed goodies. And Chris my friend up yonder in Canada sent me some rad very cool handmade fingerless gloves!! They are warm and awesome and I love them! Thank you so much Chris if you're reading this!


I went to meet Karen at the theater and oh no it sold out and she couldn't make a later showing, but I decided to see a later showing. Got ticket and assigned spot, which is very convenient. In the time between, we walked around Goodwill and talked about bad mattresses, the cost of furniture, house repairs, baby clothes, and other things. I got out without buying anything (but if this Popsicle looking dress fit, I might have got it but it was two sizes too big).

Said our - OH! Karen gave me this great lapel pin! A silkscreen & squeegee design! SO COOL! And so great! You can take the girl out of the print lab...

Anyway, said goodbye and I saw the movie. It was not as lewd as I was expecting and some of the jokes I was all too familiar with because of the trailers. Fun, very in keeping with the character. It seems like the kind of movie that'll be good to have on in the background. Great casting, nice effects and stunts. Yeah.

Back home, Celia had a lavender sachet and chocolates and fancy soaps for me! So spoiled! Earlier in the day I left a card for her, so she did get that.

Drew a comic. Watched telly. No word just yet about the application, but I did put a "able to start the 14th" on the application, so maybe they are going to take it as a sign to call me then? If not, I'll call Monday. Or Tuesday if it's not open.

that book makes me so MAD

Today was a good artwork production day. Got two things done, comic and extra thing I can't talk about because it's a gift. But I'm pretty happy with it! Can't wait till it gets to it's person so I can post it.

So yah, watched The Great British Baking Show on Netflix and worked. The comic for today is about my frustration towards the utter idiocy of Ready Player One's third act. And first and second act. The book almost had some good parts but I'm so glad I listened to it as an audiobook because I would have thrown it out the window if I owned it in reality. Bleehh!! I really did scream at the audiobook at this part.

My birthday!! Was really nice! Except the rain was absolutely atrocious, but I got through that okay. I can drive in the rain. Nothing tops the rain that came down in Mississippi.

I met Ma and Pa at Kitsap 8 to see Star Wars...again! The theater has been renovated and it looks hella plush. And our theater had reclining seats! Very nice! Enjoyed Star Wars a whole bunch. Post movie, unfortunately Hakata was closed so we went to Origami and had a mini feast. I had udon, we got sushi, dad got singapore noodles. Yum nums! I got my presents after. Sloth shirt! Rey Lego-esque figure (which sits assembled by my Christmas tree light, cool figure though I think her head is proportionally a bit small). Yon & Mu, Super You, Big Magic, and Station Eleven! Yay reading! When I make my lists, I never imply y'all should get me EVERYTHING on it. I'm so spoiled. And I got a new air filter for my car because the last one was super dirty from mice setting up home in there. Spoiled, so spoiled! And there's some OTHER gifts on the way! And one that is there! But I have two bits of mail I am waiting on, so I'll do my next parental rendezvous when those arrive.

After the early dinner, I went to hang with former Boss and Bodi! Boss had wanted to do something for me, and she's such a good cook and I like her company so I was like yeah! She made apple strudel and made a hat with my name on it and a hat for Bodi and Laura, the jewelry client, had dropped off a box of earrings and said I could pick ANY pair I liked!! She has such amazing designs that it took a very long time before I bracketed it down to a stick pearl, pink tourmaline, and circle sterling silver design that is very singular. I look forward to being complimented on them! So I hung out, had tasty apple stuff, caught up on things, and had a good ol' time. Had a nice drive back. Went to bed. All was well. I'm 28, and feeling okay about it.

And William C. Woxlin wished me happy birthday which is VERY COOL!!

Haunted Mansion and the Many Adventurers

Ahhh! Long night and I gotta get a relatively early start tomorrow. I'm only going to be in Portland for the night, so I'm leaving my computer at home. My schedule is hang with Katie (different Katie) hang with Trillian see Rhea Butcher, crash at Madeline's, then go have brunch with Heather and Daniel and return. So probably about 24 hours all together. I'm stoked though!

Got up a bit earlier than usual and spent the day revising my Dungeons and Dragons studies. Worked on filling out my character and getting more acquainted with being a halfling cleric worshipper of Pelor. But then I rolled into game play and realized I should have read up more on attack bonuses and rolling this and that. I have so much to learn, but everyone is super helpful! There were 16 people at this game!! We explored a haunted mansion in different groups. There were more odds and ends characters and the rogues did more and we had some combat but WOW it was...a lot going on. And some people went aside to get told this and that thing. I totally failed a check and got the fear of lich in me, and the last oh, thirty minutes of gameplay of me fighting my team and trying to escape. I put up a good fight too! I did sound burst and stunned a few people, and got a few good strength and grapple rolls. It was kinda Benny Hill slapstick at the end. I'd get caught, run, and I was tied up on the top with rope. Ran into the other group. But I snapped out of it. Six to eleven PM!!

And I still drew a bit. Not a complicated comic.

a story of boys and hankies

Have y'all enjoyed that cookie piece? I like having it up there. Anyway, on Wednesday I dropped it off with boss, who commissioned it.

I got up, put on a dress and tights and medium sweater and long gray coat and boots and did my makeup and set out to have a day of fun! I left enough time to swing by the office and drop off the piece.

And so I must sadly mention that that may have been my last visit to the office. I was laid off. But understandably so. Need more clients to have more work for me. Hopefully I'll get a call in a week saying "we got one!!" but for now, I continue as if I need to get a new job. Sad, but that's how it goes sometimes. So I saw Boss and Bodi and we hugged.

I caught the ferry with time to spare and chilled. The Bainbridge crossing really flies by I feel. By the time I've had a hot dog and taken a few selfies, we are already in Seattle and I'm disembarking. Chris would be a bit late to meet me for coffee, so I took my take taking pictures of buildings. It was a nice clear day, cold sure but I had a good overcoat and scarf. The lady barista at Storyville coffee was utterly darling. I complimented her brows and she seemed very joyed by what I said. The dude baristas had a vibe of "what are these girls talking about?" but brows are important, yo.

My coffee was tasty and Chris arrived and we caught up, I was finally able to give him this Battles letterpress poster that I've had forever. I got it as a freebie from Karen when she interned at Hammerpress, and I've just consistently neglected to get it to him. Till now! It's a cool poster, but I don't listen to Battles. Chris does. It was just a brief meeting, as he had plans later and I had plans a bit later too. At the coffee shop I realized I had dropped my hankie somewhere between the ferry and coffee. Bummer, because that hankie belonged to Grandpa Joe and had an embroidered S on it.

Parted ways with Chris and walked over to Kinokuniya. A nice walk on a nice day. I met up with Cameron, who I met at the Dir En Grey show and we hung out for a bit. A little meet up. Nice fella. We had takoyaki and talked things and cooking and travel (he's a Canadian!). And had some bubble tea. And he was so nice he dropped me off downtown. I was prepared to walk, but he dropped me off.

I was going to see Hateful Eight with Marcus, but he was unable to get a ticket due to it selling out. So I went solo. I got there early and was pretty near the start of the line. Got a seat in the near center of the first row at the start of the upwards seating. I sat next to one person, but the person who came into the row after me sat one away. It's a sold out show dude, sit next to someone!

But because that spot was open, a late comer was able to take a really good spot instead of being stuck in some corner place. I got to talking to this guy (there's a lot of men mentioned in this post) next to me, and he was a good dude to chat to, though not when the movie was going of course. He shared a bit of his flask of bourbon with me (which wasn't a big flask, and it wasn't full) which was a nice way to punctuate the movie.

So The Hateful Eight was pretty dang cool! And I went all the way to Seattle to see the 70mm showing. Very stellar. It had an intermission and an overture. Great performances all around, beautiful sets, and yes gore and violence because hello Tarantino movie. Yeah it was great. Well worth the travel, and I had a good day all around so that was worth it.

After the screening, the guy I sat next to and I got to talking. His name is John. He walked me down to the ferry, because the conversation continued to go well. Well I invited him to walk with me, he didn't follow. I mentioned that I had lost my embroidered hankie and that we should be on the look out for it. I even retraced my steps to the ferry. And there at Madison and just past Alaskan Way where I stopped to take a picture of a building....there it was! Barely stepped on! Just there! And I was able to show John the embroidery that PROVED it was the hankie I mentioned and not just some random Seattle hankie.

Really says something about Seattle trash collection when that stays put for eight hours.

I gave John my number and said adieu. Talked to two MORE dudes on the ferry ride back. They had the Hateful Eight programs so I knew we had a topic starter. They both had wedding rings, so I wasn't about that. I just like talking to people. Turns out the programs have different centerfolds. I'm really happy with my Demian Bichir centerfold.

My car was iced over, so I had to crank the heat and break out the scraper. I drove steady and slow back home. It was below freezing. I don't know if I've driven in 27 degrees since Colorado?

New Years Eve was pretty mellow. Talked to Celia a bit. Slept in. Tidied up a little. When the clock rolled over, I sat on the seawall and lit fireworks. Roman candles and sparklers mostly. One bottlerocket. Found out I can make this gaming meetup on the 2nd. I'm looking forward to that!

New Years Day started with a hike! Ma and Pa were on their way to meet up and Celia and I didn't have much time to get clean and dressed and on our way. Corbie was taking himself for a walk, and showed up on the driveway as we were headed out (I carpooled with Celia). Met Ma and Pa at the Overpass Lot and we went in the van together to Gibbs Lake. The loop trail took about two hours, and it was a nice path. Some ups and downs, but nothing too strenuous. Plenty of frost pushed up through the ground, and cool fluffy frost too. A nice brisk start to the new year. Post hike, we ate at the 101 Brewery and Cafe. I had fish and chips, there were bacon garlic fries ordered for the table, and we ate heartily. Yum num. One of those meals consumed at just the right time, because I haven't needed to eat again since.

I picked up some mail from Ma and Pa and we returned to Pulali. I chilled for a bit, got the new episode of Sherlock, and later in the evening went over to Celia's and we watched Sherlock! It was awesome. Fun how it went back in time with all the awesome production values. Celia is great to watch Sherlock with.

And now I'm super congested! I was doing really well. Cat allergies. Boo.

So now it's 2016, how 'bout that?

family, friends, family friends

Woof! Way behind! It's been a heckuva quadruple of days.

So after Christmas, I went back to Pulali a bit before Mom and Dad left. I lit a fire, tidied up, started some laundry, vacuumed. Ma and Pa arrived about an hour after I did. Hans and Corrine visited during this time. They were over at Celia's, and Ma and Pa went over before I did, and I followed suit a bit after. Corrine made a cake in my oven. Celia made a roast beast. Dad grilled some salmon. There was soup and bread and gravy. Lots of good stuff! A little family and friends food and game playing. We played Win Lose or Draw, and I decimated! I won so hard. Felt good to win that much after not winning many games. Played a few rounds of Scattergories too. Dessert was at my house, we had cake and icing and watched The Incredible. I put on my new jimjams and went to bed.

I'm sleeping in the twin bed for the next while. I like to mix it up. Switch back and forth. The big bed was feeling too big.

Ma and Pa and Hans left early in the morning. I slept in and vegged out. A nice day off from a couple social days and the many hours spent making the cards. Which now that Nate and Helen have their present, I can reveal that I spent many hours printing them a set of custom cards! The design turned out really nice. It's their house, with seven spot colors. Only printed 25 because holy hell any more would have taken a long time. And I did custom return envelopes too. Nice gifty!

So yeah, spent a day relaxing and keeping warm and all that.

So that brings us to....Monday? Yes. Yesterday. I slept in and relaxed, and then plans suddenly changed with Kristen (my old roommate in college who now lives in Canada but has family in Kitsap) and she was having a little spring roll dinner tonight because the next day she was going to Seattle with Alain (not Mel's Alain, her own Alain). So I prettied myself up and popped over to Seabeck to pick up some mail and gifts, then went to her place! Well her parent's place.

Alain is a nice fella, and I met her friend Jillian. We had spring rolls and wine and gabbed and gabbed. Gabbed till 2am!! We had lots of catching up and lots of life and lots of memories to go over. It was fun. And got to know Alain too, he's a new fella to meet. I did not have wine anywhere near the time I departed, don't worry. I got home at 3 and actually got up and not a horribly late hour,

I've been doing a lot of two meals lately. My appetite has gone way down. I don't get hungry till later, and I stay not hungry. Not the worst thing, as I'm prone to just scarfing tons of food. Had some udon later. Worked on a piece commission for Boss, but a separate commission from work. Just a "I need a piece from you as an illustrator for something else".

I'm really happy with how it turned out. Just the right amount of labor for the price.

Got some news this morning (the 29th). Won't disclose it fully just yet as I'm still processing it.

Just know that there is news.

helper

Two mornings in a row I got called into action by someone needing my help.

My boss can't catch a break. Saturday she called me in to take over the vintage fair because she was unable to. I got up, showered, and hauled butt over to Bainbridge Island. Thankfully parking was available on Saturdays on the side of the road. It was stormy and sopping wet but I looked cute in my raincoat. The vintage selling community is so nice! Debbie was watching our booth and Barb knew what was up and recognized me. I got Square loaded on my phone and set about making the pitch to the few buyers that trickled in. Barb made sandwiches for some of us, and Debbie made tasty cider. I had Kureg Kureig Kurieg whatever it's spelled coffee too. Pep in my step! We made some sales. Two fashionable gals and a fashionable lad admired our ornaments. One of them complimented my sweater and I was so stoked, because they were SERIOUSLY cool.

We had to take the stall down early (we being me, and bosses daughter and future step son) because of time constraints. It wasn't ideal, but it was how it had to go. About 15 minutes into us packing up...the power cut off in the hall. Emergency lights were found and hooked up to cars and light was had. Medium light. Not great light. And other people started packing up as well, so it wasn't the worst thing in the world for us to be gone early, and we had space to pack up because we weren't having to keep clear of the other stalls like we would have if the power had been on and people were coming through.

Some people still continued to shop! Once the van was loaded and I said toodles to the family, I bought some nice earrings made from vintage chandelier crystals. I headed home and got caught once again in that damn hour long Bainbridge escape.

I took a good long relax at home, and did a bit more work, and went to bed at a decent hour. Whew!!

Today Karen called me needing help with her flooded basement! Oh no! But that wouldn't be till 3 in the afternoon after she got back from dropping Rob off at the airport, so I had some time. Ate breakfast, chilled, and when I was at Big Beef Crossing headed to Seabeck to swing by Ma & Pa to get my mail, Karen called to tell me they had rearranged the flight and the basement was taken care of and while I could help for two hours, it wouldn't be totally necessary. She also apologized for not telling me earlier, but it's understandable because she was probably busy hauling her books out of four inches of water. Hopefully that basement stops being a bummer.

So I just hung out with Ma and Pa! I helped move the kayak about, ate dinner, helped with some gardening, and played an episode of 99% Invisible about maps and I worked on redesigning the Washington State flag because oy we've got a bad flag.

Did you know that Washington was named Washington instead of Columbia, in order to prevent confusion with the District of Columbia?

Went home, washed dishes, listened to podcasts. Now I must sleep because it's late and I got work on site tomorrow.

a MAZE ing

Thursday & Friday

On site on Thursday! Got up early and hauled over to the Island and got to fiddle with the new camera taking photos and whatnot. Got a new DSLR camera at work. Damn it takes nice pictures. Need to learn the settings and brush up on what I learned in my various classes. But dang yeah, the new photos look great. Once we get proper lights for our set up, we'll be flying!

Departed work, got some fast food on the way home, got home and chilled and watched TV and stayed up a bit late.

Got out of bed early on Friday and did some work from home. Our eBay listings have been off the chain lately.

Then once I hit my deadline, I got dolled up and put on my cowboy boots and went to meet Karen at Pheasant Farms to do a corn maze! Whooo! And when I arrived I texted her and she said she was also in the parking lot...but I couldn't see her car. Turns out I was at the right farm, but she was thinking of the corn maze by the put put golf near Bremerton. How are there enough corn mazes in Kitsap to create such a corn maze confusion? But I was only 7 minutes away, so I drove over and we met up and did the maze! It was on her 30 Before 30 list, and it was pretty fun. We had to find six different locations within the maze and punch our card. Location #6 and #2 were very difficult! Not really an enter and find your way to the exit type maze. But lots of fun to walk around and talk and maybe take a few shortcuts.

Back at Karen and Rob's house, we had dinner and talked more and the house has some coats of paint on the interior. It's coming together! Had such a nice visit with my dear friend. We also talked about water heater problems and solutions. Such as what is up when you don't get enough hot water to fill a tub BUT the heater does trigger the too hot measuring thing.

Topped off the air in my tires, topped off the gas in my tank, and got some oil to top off the oil in my car tomorrow once the engine has cooled. Not a bad day at all.

I don't have any Halloween plans. I'll probably do some work, maybe see if Celia wants to watch some spoopy movies. Anyway, whooo so long October!

lovely to be in love

Do forgive the lateness of this post, I've been out and about having fun as well as catching up on sleep.

Saturday was fun and full of popping around town and seeing people. Madeline and I went to New Order Cafe for brunch. We walked the blocks on a crisp fall day, and grabbed a booth. Both had egg/toast/bacon meals. The cafe had reusable mugs you pick out from a wall and help yourself to the coffee. I like that system. I went with the Hoover Damn mug.

Post food, we drove downtown. I swung past the old PNCA building to show Madeline how it was gone, and parked on the park blocks and we walked up to Powell's. I got a photo with Douglas Adams' signature in the Gold Room and picked up the Sci-Fi Author themed waterbottle. Didn't buy any books and felt like a tourist. I dropped Madeline off at her house and went to the PSU area and met up with Amanda McA at a McMenamin's. I gave her back the shoes she left at my house during Friendsgiving. We had a pint and chatted and she dropped me off at Oranj's gallery for Yoshi's show. It was a hair salon/gallery space. Beautiful wallspace and large movable mirrors. Yoshi's paintings were wonderful and I ran into Kate and her partner. Kate was on my thesis panel. There were some cute dogs at the show too, and I gave them a pet. I met up with Daniel and Heather at the gallery, and watched them eat dinner (I was full from my meeting with Amanda). They in turn dropped me off at my car, at which point I went to hang out once again with Madeline and her friends Mark, Ben, David, and Meredith. We played an Alien theme card game that was based on deck building, like Dominion. The game had a traitor assigned too, and I had the first chance of figuring out who it was and I went for Mark who WAS the traitor! We all lost though. It's a very difficult game. Mark made really good cookies.

I dozed to sleep back at Madeline's. Then it was Sunday. The big day!!

Slept a little bit in then got up and had snacks and got to prepping. Took my sweet time doing my makeup. Skin, brows, contour, blush, highlight, primer, eyeshadow, eyeshadow, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, lipstick. Straightened my hair a little bit too, so dang I looked good. Put on the green dress I wore to Nathan and Helen's wedding. I accessorized with a yellow leaf brooch, not the peacock belt, the gold square earrings Mom gave me, and my new watch. I miss my old watch. I still have it, I just need to see about getting it fixed.

Karen and Rob picked me up, and we drove to pick up pies for the wedding. We thought it would be a ton of food, but it was just 5 gluten free hand pies for the people who couldn't indulge from the pizza catering the wedding would have. Very NICE pizza!

We weren't let in to the hall till 3, so we milled about. Checked out Reclaim It, a store that resells stuff found in the dump. Had some neat stuff, and some good stuff that just needed a fix. They've resold about 100k pounds of things, which is neat.

The three of us had volunteered to help set up. It was an easy peasey set up. The rented hall didn't leave much room for hardcore installations, so it was mostly moving tables, putting tablecloths on tables, setting out chairs, putting out centerpieces. The centerpieces were cigar boxes with succulents and candies. There were smaller centerpieces, succulents in vintage silver, that were placed around on the tables. Lovely very Mel and Alain set up. There were large banners too, that Mel had printed using Spoonflower.

Everything got up and out and we had plenty of time to go. I got some coffee for myself from the nearby cafe. Met up with Serenity and Ian, and Jim and Catherine, and Zaneta and Drew. Lots of fashionable people looking their best for dear Melissa.

I secured a spot in the second row aisle, next to Karen. The ceremony was lovely and sweet. Melissa looked gorgeous in a vintage tea length dressed that poofed way out. Her hair was done up in swirls with a veil. Gorgeous bride. Alain looked very dapper in his suit and boots too.

They did a wine box ceremony: BT made a custom box and they put love letters to one another in the box, along with a bottle of good wine. They nailed the box shut together. It will be opened again in 2020 on their anniversary. It's a really gorgeous box too. Dovetailed and all that.

BT was the efficient and did a great job of it. A poem was read. Vows written together were exchanged. They were declared married and they kissed and I started crying.

I was at table 8 with Karen, Rob, Kyle, BT, Serenity, and Ian. I had a brewski during cocktail hour, and then the food was out and everyone got a plate in an orderly fashion. I grabbed pasta and salad and pizza and pita bread and OH it was delicious! The pizza was from Dove Viva...Vivi? Something. It was scumptious. I ate and drank and was merry. Speeches were said. I drew in my sketchbook. I chatted up people. It was a wonderful night. The dance floor opened up and I got down to a couple songs. I was behind Cidney and in front of Alain's dad in the conga line. I hugged and kissed people on cheeks and it was wonderful. The frosting on the cake was very rich. I piled up a plate with leftovers for Madeline, and rich rich brownies.

I'm so happy for Melissa. She is sweet, nice, smart, driven, and just good. Alain is nice and friendly and I like him for Mel. It makes me so happy to see my friends happy. Happy and in love. Life moves forward, slowly but surely and magnificently.

Karen dropped me off at Madeline's and I gave her a pile of food. We watched a few episodes of Rick and Morty and chatted our lives from the past year. Wonderful conversation,

I slept right through Madeline leaving in the morning. I packed up. Ordered a lapel pin that dropped in the store (Ma and Pa, be on the lookout for that)(I'm still waiting for this Lisa Hanawalt pin to drop as well, it's so cool)(I need a denim jacket, whatever happened to my old one?)

My car was packed and I headed off to meet Daniel and Heather at Tasty n Sons. Took a couple wrong turns but I got there. It was a swanky food spot with communal food type plates and tasty little artisan coffee bevvies. I got eggs and bacon and biscuit, Daniel got a Dutch Baby, and Heather got an open face monte cristo. We nibbled from each other's plates and drank each others fancy drinks. Love my meals with those two goobers. I've said it to their face and I'll say it here: I always leave our time together wanting more to say.

Hugged goodbye and off I went north. I got rest stop coffee. I was really wiped out and tired during the last hour. How did I do so many hours of driving? Three is just so tiring! Dang! Listened to podcasts and refilled my tank in Hoodsport. Unloaded at home. Parked my car in the garage. Crawled into bed and took a nap. Woke up. Had some green beans and snackums. Went back to sleep and slept in, as ya do.

Today I unpacked a bit, had some noodles, talked to Celia and Corrine a little bit. I drove down to the Quilcene Community Center to watch the GOP Debate. Nice crowd there, but the stream wasn't coming through so the group bifurcated to two factions to watch it at nearby food places. I was in a group at Loggers Landing. A whiskey beerback really made the debate fun to watch. I think Bernie's gun measurements got misconstrued as soft, and Hillary just seems to be saying what Bernie has been saying for a while. The other three dudes seemed to be going for Vice President. We gathered again at the Towana Roadhouse and at the center for some chat. Everyone is pretty Team Bernie, I grabbed a button. Chatted a little with two 20-somethings. There are young people around here too!!! I didn't give them my info, but hey maybe I'll see them around. Anna and Emily?

My internet is so bad right now.

So much fun. Will be back to work in a moment but for now: such fun.

back to PDX

Greetings and good morning! I am writing from Madeline's in Portland. Made it here safe and sound yesterday. Hit a little bit of traffic coming into downtown, but I wasn't on the freeway for long. There was an accident, so that's a bummer. I swung by the new 511 PNCA building. The art students were so darling and young looking and art student looking. I was wearing a more grown up gray top and probably didn't look like one of their ilk. I wonder what my expression was when I looked at the new building? It did give me a weird feeling to see it all ~PNCA~ like with the lettering and stuff. I swung by the library and gave Serenity a hug and said hi to Dan. Also ran into Heather McL and Doug at the front desk, who gave me a really good hug. There's such a unity with the old guard. There was an alumni function going on and I gate crashed it for a while. Talked to Yoshihiro and told him I still think about his advice to slow down when making work. Talked to Yo. Saw a few other familiar faces but a lot of really unfamiliar ones. The new print lab is AMAZING! It's huge and has a bonafide drying rack. I got to boast about how good I got at emulsifying screens to Yoshi.

I departed after an hour (paid for parking for just an hour) and headed east to Madeline's new place. Nice little two story apartment/house thing with a joined backyard. We caught up, got pizza, and watched some Netflix and Shutter Island. Midnight rolled around and we went to bed.

My Thursday work shift was aight. Did some packing on site and dropped off things at the Goodwill drop off. Poss treated Jeremy and I to lunch and I went to the Bainbridge house to finish up work. Just did some research and cuddled poor Bodi.

Bodi got an extreme haircut. His ears are trimmed all down, as is his tail, and he is not happy about it. He isn't going outside, and he is giving Christa the cold shoulder. He leapt into my arms twice, and sat on my lap for about an hour. Christa called to him, but he didn't come. He just looked at her, looked sad, and went back to getting cuddles from me. Poor puppy.

In the evening I packed, and stayed up late wrapping my present, then I slept in a bit in the morning, packed up my way overpacked bag (like too many shirts but hey, variety) and headed south! Topped up the tank in Hoodsport. Listened to podcasts. Easy peasy.

Now to get brunch and do SOMETHING with this day, I don't know what just yet.

not my bag, wait, yes! my bag!

Wednesday

Did a bit of work over at Celia's after sleeping in...well not sleeping in so much as staying awake in bed but all cozy like. I like spending time awake in bed in my own head. So yeah, did some work from home stuff and had popcorn for dinner.

Thursday

Worked on site, but it was a short day. I photographed and helped pack things up and moved some things. Helped Jeremy move this furniture he got in tradeout for work. After work I went to Bremerton and dropped off some Habitat for Humanity stuff from the sale, and swung by Comics Keep and picked up my comics and the 4th volume of Saga. Hurray! I should read that in, oh, 15 minutes. BKV is not a verbose panel writer. Then I grabbed a slice of pie at Shari's and met Karen at Goodwill for gal pal chatting. I found nothing cute for me (awkward fitting tops in cute prints) but Karen found some cute baby clothes with flamingos on them. We talked upcoming things and life and just generally walked around the shop catching up. I returned home after and did a second rubbing of oil on my leather bag and leather shoes. Did I mention I did a first coat? Well anyway, my bag is all shiny and much deeper in color now. Hopefully I applied the stuff right. Maybe in the morning I'll give it a rub down with a clean part of my rag. Really smooth that oil into the material. Karen described my style as eclectic modern with a touch of vintage. Eclectic is one of my favorite words, and probably is the best way to describe me. I like cool things and good deals. My job converges the two.

Now to tuck into bed and read some comics. Tomorrow I got some more work from home to do, and packing up to do as well because Saturday/Sunday I will be in Portland!! Yaaay!

Also I got BUSINESS CARDS! WITH MY NAME ON THEM!! Booyaaah!!

city feet and forest friends

Sorry I have missed many days of writing! Friends were in town and I was caught up with spending time with my lovelies. Then the internet was down last night.

The first morning of Finn's visit, I made coffee and toast which we put the plum amaretto jam on. We sat on the porch and talked and gazed out across the water. I looked through my binoculars and saw that Celia was home, so we went over to say hi to her and Corbie. Then we hauled out the blue kayak and went for a cautious paddle, due to it being so tippy. But we found a rhythm and didn't tip over! There were other kayaker groups out, with their lighter and less tippy modern kayaks. We went down to the lagoon by Camp Parsons and snacked and drifted and looked at seals. The sun was out, the water was calm. Wonderful! We sat out in the water a bit and cooled off, then took quick showers and went out for lunch! BT was on his way, but we had time. Time to go to Hama Hama Oysters for some fresh grilled oysters and cole slaw.

I don't think I've ever had oysters out of the shell. They were so good and I licked the shells clean. Very much a meal to savor. We swung by Halfway House too for some carbs. I watered Grandma and Grandpa's grave and BT arrived at Pulali about five minutes after we did. He and Carnegie! A convergence of people. We trekked through the woods out to the point to give Carnegie a walk (as well as a chance for BT to stretch his legs). Dan was on his way too, but wouldn't be around till 7ish. I picked some greens for a salad (carrots and green beans from my garden and tomatos from Heronswood). And Dan arrived!! Woohoo! We hugged and were joyous and utilized the wall mounted beer opener. The salad featured greens from Central Market, cut up tomatoes, cucumber, hard boiled egg, and quality salad dressing. It was delicious and we ate it all almost entirely! It's awesome to eat vegetables sometimes. Post dinner we sampled grog and sat in the living room and talked and drew till late.

The second morning, many coffees were made in the AeroPress and I cooked up bacon and eggs, Trill style, in the cast iron. BT brought fresh ground & roasted coffee from Courier Coffee in Portland. Good stuff. I said "pick a mug" and they did. BT favored the Welcome To Night Vale and Sears mugs, Dan went for M&Ms, and Finn liked the Beaton mug,

We coordinated with Karen for a Port Townsend rendezvous, and at 11 we loaded up into my car and north we went. Beautiful drive up with plenty of trees. Parked just off main street, and Karen showed up right as we were crossing the road (and didn't run us down). Hurrah! Carnegie had some words with a fake dog outside a store front. First up was a pizza lunch at Waterfront. We sat on logs and ate our slices and drank soda and caught up on the news. Coffee was procured from Better Living Through Coffee and later some ice cream from Elevated. Dan bought some books from the second hand shop. I love the malted chocolate flavor so much.

I drove us (including Karen) up to Fort Worden for some bunker fun and beach walkies. The aquarium was open but not free, so we didn't partake. We stuck around at the lower bunkers, and did a bit of spooky fun. I found a bit of bull kelp and stuck shells in it to make a face and tried to present Karen with the dolly "Kelpie". She rejected Kelpie. So I spun kelpie in a circle and tossed her out to sea.

We returned Karen to her car, ran an errand on the way home, and returned to Pulali. There were some backseat nappers on the way back.

I had removed Casey's casserole from the freezer to thaw it for dinner, so I got that cooking. Finn drew. Dan had a coffee. BT prepared a peach cobbler. The casserole was devoured. Dan packed up to go and was hugged. The seals were not welcoming to Dan and he was unable to swim with them like he wanted.

There was a double feature of Mrs Doubtfire and Moulin Rouge, and the peach cobbler was gone in an instant. So delicious! After the movies we played a new game: you open up Tinder and go to your matches and read name and age and their "about me" and other people make guesses at whats going on in their main picture. You can give hints if you want, such as "it's a selfie" or "they're with other people".

The third and final morning was time to say goodbyes. Coffee was made and english muffins consumed. I offered to drive Finn to the airport. Yeah it is a drive, but I'd rather spend more time with my friend and get them to the airport than save ~45 minutes and drop them off at a ferry where they have to cross and get to the train and that takes time. It was an easy drive, and two hours isn't all that bad. The drive was over all too early and we hugged at the drop off and I headed back home. Swung by the library. Stretched my legs. Finished the drive. Listened to podcasts.

My house needed no cleaning or tidying or any post-visit tending. The power cut out at around 8pm, which was very inconvenient. A fire took down some lines down in Skokomish. A brush fire, so not a huge one. That is worrisome that there would be a fire so close.

Power came back around 10ish.

Today the internet hasn't been reaching my house all that well, so I'm at Celia's doing my work. Listing stuff on eBay and all that. Tomorrow is a big day!!