Here comes the sun

The first warm weather of the season has arrived! I'm still a bit hesitant to banish all my sweaters and coats to storage in favor of the summer clothes, but this last weekend brought us the kind of weather that reminds me why I live here. It truly is one of the most spectacularly beautiful places on earth. I made my first trip to Bainbridge island and the peninsula since my divorce, and it was quite cathartic. I had a great time with my sister Nicole and a couple of other friends in BI Saturday and then Sunday me and a friend went out to La Push and then down the coast hitting the beaches on the way home, we barely made it back in time for karaoke but we made it.
The boy and I met up with friends at the beach here in Seattle, golden gardens, and then had a lovely lunch at one of our fave Mexican joints, Gorditos.
It's supposed to stay nice this week so I'm very much looking forward to many outdoor activities and soaking up the vitamin D, you never know how long it will last!

Monday playlist: Beach House, Black Pine, Vetiver, Yo La Tengo, Au Revoir Simone, Midlake, Passion Pit, Crystal Castles, Bon Iver, Rogue Wave, Neon Indian, Xx, Coconut Records, Grizzly Bear

In like a lion....?

We had our first whispers of warm weather last week, and it always reminds me what FREAKS seattlites are about the sun! I have the fabulous fortune of working only a couple of blocks from one of the lake Washington beaches (sand!) and have very much enjoyed the proximity and am looking forward to summer even more now! It's back to rain for today but the forecast for next weekend is looking good!!

Sister act

My sister Alice came to visit this weekend. It's always so great to see her, I feel replenished in a very distinct way whenever I get to spend time with her. Even though we've lived away from one another for over a decade, we've always been a constant for one another, so it's important for me to be able to check in with her face to face, it has an incredibly balancing effect on me. I don't know who I'd be with out her and I hope I don't need to find out anytime soon! ;)
The main reason for her visit was to attend our dad's graduation. He got his first college degree and I know I speak for our entire family when I say how proud I am of him! My sister stayed with me, and we got to spend a lot of quality time together while she was here. We had a family style dinner with my mom, had drinks with our other sister and some old friends, went to a karaoke birthday party and participated in the MS walk. I'm so glad she was able to come out, I feel like she's been able to help me through some stuff and I feel I've really turned a corner, thanks to her unwavering support. She left Sunday evening and my mom and I had a great dinner and I was able to convince her to come to karaoke at the twilight exit with me! So fun....

I read some thing today....

…that has totally helped me with my perspective on a particular issue that has been niggling at me for too long;
“…Dare to pray for an overwhelming sense of love. Not love for the difficult or hurtful situation that has arisen with this person, but love for the soul God created within them. She is His. He loves her. He treasures her even when He doesn’t approve of her actions…” (From “encouragement for today devotional”, ‘consider the source’ by Lysa TerKeurst April 14, 2013)
I swear i didn’t change a word of that quote! it spoke straight to my heart… Love is the only path to forgiveness, and forgiveness is the only way to clean the bitterness and toxicity from my ‘well’ so that what I’m giving to those I love is from a clean, pure, overflowing source. Give from the excess. This is my mantra for today, and the foreseeable future :)

Easter and allergies, more or less

Last Sunday was Easter, the family I work for had their family visiting, so I got an unexpected three day weekend (yay!) which was great since my allergies decided to kick into high gear (boo!) but I survived. There's something about being able to just do nothing every now and then that is so ridiculously satisfying. I really like being able to take advantage of it as often as possible, and as life's responsibilities increase, that seems to be less and less. I was able to make a really delish cuban style lamb shank crock pot meal for Easter (my mom had given up meat for lent, so this was her choice :)) I forgot to take pics and had some difficulty tasting it fully because of the allergy situation, but I'll definitely be making this one again soon, so stay tuned for a recipe on that one!

I was able to catch up with a lot of my favorite people over the last week and a half or so, which was also great. I've been feeling more vulnerable lately which makes me want to pull back, but i'm glad i haven't. I'm a huge fan of being around the people I adore. I'm a very solitary person and absolutely need regular alone time to feel like a normal person, but whether we're just chillin' or running around the city, I feel that I'm fueled by being around my loved ones just as much. So a big thank you to those of you who've made themselves available to me over the last two weeks or so. I love you and am grateful for you!!

I've also been feeling sort of strangely over the last month or two. Lately I've been caught between two very distinct and yet dichotomous feelings. My life has changed so drastically over the last year that I'm used to the uncertainty, but it usually makes me very nervous, at best. I've been feeling the usual sense of urgency regarding my still cloudy-as-pea-soup future, yet whenever I start to tense up with anxiety due to the intense level of uncertainty, I start to feel this overwhelming sense of peace. I understand what's happening to a certain degree, but I've never experienced it, so it's somewhat alarming.... I'm hoping for a new life plateau soon, but am trying to stay present so that I don't miss anything that's happening during the climb. There have definitely been some important lessons to learn so far, and I'm glad I didn't miss them.

Hump day

Hey-lo,
I've been really having a homebody moment and I'm kind of loving it. I've been really in to staying at home and making food, or getting crafty, although the crafts I've kinda put on hold since I'm going to be moving in June. I've got a couple I've been working on, but they're gifts so I don't want to give anything away ;)
So, in the spirit of my inner Suzy Homemaker, here's the dinner I made last night, complete with recipe! You could make it more healthy by adding a bright green veggie or salad, but I'm pairing mine w/ sliced cornichons and red wine, because I can ;)

Spicy brown sugar chicken with garlic and wrapped with bacon

Chicken
bacon
garlic powder
cayenne pepper
black pepper
salt
brown sugar
olive oil

Take 4-6 pieces of chicken, cutlet size, or if you have full breasts, cut into 3rds or quarters, place in baking pan (i did 4 and used a 9x9 glass dish) and drizzle with olive oil. Then dust them with cayenne pepper, garlic powder, (I used thinly sliced garlic) salt and pepper then wrap with bacon and roll in brown sugar until coated. Place back in dish bake for 30-40 min or until cooked through.

Dijon potatoes with bacon and Bleu cheese

Potatoes
Dijon mustard
bacon
Bleu cheese
salt
Black pepper
butter (or olive oil)

Butter or coat with olive oil an oven safe dish. (I used a glass 9x9). Cut potatoes into 1 inch pieces i used 2 russets) Spoon Dijon and mix until coated (1-3 tbsp) Cut up 1-2 slices of uncooked bacon and mix in. Crumble desired amount of cheese on top. Bake in 400 degree oven for 20-30 min or so until the potatoes are cooked through. (I like mine a bit more like hash, so I cooked it longer)

I cooked them both at the same time, so it was done in under an hour and in my belly in less than 20 min, so.... Yeah! Great recipes!

The family I work for moved last week to a new neighborhood. The boy was a bit under the weather today, so after an easy-going morning and a noontime snooze, we braved it and ventured out to explore and grab some lunch and play at the park. It started raining enough to send us home earlier than we'd hoped, but it was still fun. :) The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to Thomas. Thomas the tank engine.
Playlist: Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, Doobie Brothers, Eagles, Norman Greenbaum, Steve Miller Band, Led Zepplin, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Pretenders, Tom Petty, the Police, CCR, Don McLean...

Random and Sunday

Random is definitely the best one word description of my Friday and Saturday last. After work on Friday I had plans to meet up with a friend, (which turned into two friends actually, yay!) and just as we were settling in to have some good eats with our drinks, and a rather large group of people came in carrying bags and boxes. We were like, 'okay...' Especially when they start moving the tables around and we hear them mention a PA. (yeah.) We were still pretty 'whatevs' especially since we relocated to a booth that was across the room from the apparently impending hubbub. Then they pull out clip boards. At this point, we're like, 'let's wrap this up and take it to another venue, yes?' and we down our drinks and pay our tab just as they fire up the PA and start up with their spiel which I think had something to do with politics. They did ask me to sign something as I was escaping, but I just whined something about it being a rough week and he left me alone. The rest of the night was normal, had a couple more drinks at the regular watering hole, then met up with my sister and her bf at an awesome meats place and had a beer(!) and went home kinda early. We had plans to go hiking on Saturday so I wanted to make sure I got enough sleep.
It hadn't really occurred to me that it had been snowing in the area we were planning to hike, so I was a bit surprised when we got to our supposed hiking destination and it was not really there, due to about 3-4 feet of snow (boo). Fortunately the group I was with was just as easygoing as me about the situation, so we played in the snow until our feet were frozen. We then decided to head back and check out the reptile zoo and BBQ that we passed on the way in. (Yes, you read that right.)
We decided to eat first, so we head down to the BBQ, which is situated in two school buses. One is where you place your order and they make it, the other is where the magic happens. We take a seat in the dining (magic) bus which has been renovated to resemble a dining room. It also has hundreds of those alphabet magnets to give you something to do while you wait for the deliciousness to descend. I had the brisket sammy, macaroni salad and a big ole pickle. It did not disappoint.
We then went to the reptile zoo (open 365 days a year!!) and wow. They have the 10 most venomous snakes, as well as dozens of other creepy crawlies. I'm pretty sure at one point there was a half baked plan in our party to liberate the crocodile, but I'm guessing it didn't pan out....
Later Saturday night I went to an Easter fiesta where we dined on nachos and margs whilst decorating hard boiled eggs. And yes, it was awesome.
Sunday was pretty much like it usually is. Had brunch, cleaned my place, vegged out and went to karaoke. It was my friend's night off, so he wore his sunglasses inside, and apparently started a trend....