I Danced in the Sound

The Eyes of Summer

The weather was deliciously warm, not too hot, but just right for a picnic on the beach. Dr. Erin and I took a short road trip to Golden Gardens for the day. This park is located in Ballard and has an exquisite view of the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.

We sat. We talked. We ate. We dreamed only those dreams you can have on the beach on a warm sunny day. And we laughed.

Cruise Reunion 2009: The Seattle Episode

Wow what a weekend! It's now Monday and I'm exhausted. I did nothing but play all weekend and forget about a little thing called sleep. Here is an outline of my weekend with Brian, Heather and Eric.

Friday

After picking up Brian in Seattle we headed home to quickly finish the preparations for dinner. Brian was the designated "cheese man" and is perhaps a better chief than he thinks. We then headed over to Scott's place in Issaquah to meet up with Heather and Eric. This is where we all got to meet Amy, Scott's fiancée, for the first time (and she's super nice and cute - I approve). Our first order of business was dinner. And then the games began…

Saturday

classic Heather and Eric shot

After eating a particularly yummy breakfast we headed out the door for a tour around Seattle on both land and sea, called Ride the Ducks. I’d never done this before, but had heard it was a lot of fun. Totally. Loved. It. And I most certainly picked the right group of people to go with.

young ducks in love

"Windy"

Eric - Brian - Heather ... like I said, non stop fun with this crowd

Brian - Windy

Seattle from the water

Heather - Windy

When we finished it just happened to be the same time the Fremont Solstice Parade was ending. We got caught in some of that traffic and saw a few people that were ‘barely participating’ in the parade. A few sights I could do without remembering. We then headed up to Golden Gardens for a picnic on the beach. The weather (although forecasted to be rain) was only a little overcast and pleasant.

Eric - Heather - Brian, Cheers!

We couldn't keep Brian from eating ice cream the entire time.

"NO KIDS!!"

After goofing around a bit we headed back home and rearranged our dinner plans. Mongolian Grill which is ‘just around the corner’ from me was our restaurant of choice.


Saturday evening we pulled my desk out to the middle of the floor and turned it into a game table for another night of games. Eric, the local game expert, brought a large pile to choose from. However before the evening was over we squeezed in some name-that-tune ‘punk rock style’ and even arm wrestling. For the record: Brian can kick trash at this. Even when it was 2 on 1, Brian still beat Heather and I together. Looks like we have some working-out to do before next summer’s Cruise Reunion.

Windy vs. Brian

Brian vs. Heather

Sunday

We slept in. Oh how I love sleep.

After attending Sacrament Meeting at my ward we headed home for lunch and goodbyes. Somehow a little Rock Band slipped in there.

The weekend went by too fast. They came, and now they are gone. I could not have hoped for a better weekend. Thanks for all the fun!

Brian - Heather - Windy - Eric

Follow up on the Sounders Game

I found the following quote on Wikipedia this morning and I thought it better described the sort of noise level found at Qwest Field. This should give you an idea of the insane noise level there last night. It makes me want to attend a Seahawks game to see what the real noise is all about.

The New York Giants allegedly asked the NFL to intervene in 2006 when they played the Seattle Seahawks. In their 2005 matchup at Qwest Field, the Giants incurred 11 false start penalties due to the crowd noise. For the 2006 rematch between the two teams, the NFL sent observers to verify that the Seahawks were not artificially enhancing the noise level. Qwest Field in Seattle has been architecturally designed to be the loudest stadium in the NFL. This has caused 2.83 false starts per game, which is the highest in the NFL since 2005. The Decibel level at Qwest Field is a whopping 112 dB, only 18 dB below the roar of a Boeing 747.

source

Sounders vs. DC United

There is something that I absolutely love about Seattle, we are true to our own. It doesn't matter if it's a band from the area or our own sports team, Seattle goes nuts to support it.

Tonight I went to my first ever Major League Soccer game, the Seattle Sounders FC verses DC United. And excellent game! Thanks again for taking me, Josh!

as you can see, we had excellent seats

I wish I could adequately describe the insane noise and support fans give at the games. It's almost vicious! We walked in just a little late and the game had already started, a DC player had been injured and the crowd was chanting 'let him die!' Yes, we are pretty serious about our football here.

It was a fun game, both teams played well. My favorite player was easily the goalie, Kasey Keller. He really gets into it.

Favorite moment from the game: it's tied 3 - 3 with moments left of the game and DC United is wasting time hoping for the clock to run out, their goalie has the ball and is getting ready to kick it out to his teammates. Well he's taking his pretty little time about it. Adjusted his socks, adjusted his shorts, blah blah blah. The crowd is boo-ing him like crazy when suddenly a crazed fan from the crowd chucks his half full beer bottle at the goalie and manages to hit him - although nothing serious - I think it just nicked him in the leg and sprayed a bit of beer on him. I thought it was hilarious! Get on with the game!

I now feel hooked. I'm officially a Sounders fan.

Making Plans

This has been a week of making plans.

I'm making plans for this weekend as it's Cruise Reunion 2009. I'm really looking forward to a weekend with my friends Heather, Eric, and Brian. Since I only ever see them once (maybe twice) a year I have to make every minute count. We'll be doing dinners, picnics, playing games, seeing sights, and even Riding the Ducks. You can bet we will have a weekend of laughing, joking, and silly pictures.

Here we are on the actual cruise where we met in 2006 with several other fabulous friends we made.

Between those plans I've been on the phone and on email and checking ticket prices over and over again making plans for my 30th birthday! I will be spending about a week and a half in Hawaii with 2 of my dearest friends. Half the time will be on Maui thanks to my Grandma and her willingness to help out by letting us use her time share (thanks Grandma!). The other half will be spent on Kauai. I've visited Maui and Oahu once before, but it was many years ago. My family (minus two of them) spent 2 weeks there just after I returned home from my mission in 2002. Here we are at the Hawaii Temple, check out my sunglasses, I swear I thought they were so cool.

Dad - Tommy - Sandie - Melanie - Me - Mom

With so many exciting things coming up I can't focus on what I need to be doing right now.

For Tommy!

My favorite li'l brudder turns 21 today.
Happy Birthday Tommy!!

Tommy with 2 nephews: Zachary and Tyler

I hope you are having fun and working hard down there in Argentina.
I sure miss you!

Shout out to another Sistah

Many of you know my younger sister Melanie as the girl who always does my hair. She hooks me up with all the colors and cuts I've had for several years now. She is also fabulously talented in many other areas other than hair. See for yourself and check out her new blog called Bowl of Oranges.

Book Review: Shopaholic and Baby

Shopaholic and Baby
by Sophie Kinsella
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
"I really like it"

This is the final book in the Shopaholic Series. As always, I've enjoyed all the crazy situations Becky Brandon finds herself in. In this book Becky is pregnant, she and Luke choose not to find out the sex of the baby. This creates a little bit of trouble while trying to shop. Only this is a minor plot line. The bigger plot line is Becky needs to have this new Celebrity Obstetrician named Venetia Carter. She miraculously manages to get an appointment with her only to find out that her husband Luke and Venetia know each other. And worse, Venetia is stunningly gorgeous and Luke's x-girlfriend from his college days.

What I liked best about this book (and series as a whole) is I found myself laughing out loud several times. It's always nice to have a good laugh.

next book: Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next book 2) by Jasper Fforde

Friday Night

Have you ever had one of those dates with a guy that is just really great? He's interesting, fun to talk to, nice, handsome, smart, and treats you like you are worth something.

That was my night tonight, with the Dodge Charger.