Holiday Party Friday

Us'uns in fancy dress for the Google Holiday Party last Friday. Excellent party with great food, a roving magician (who impressed Ken--a hobbyist illusionist himself) and an ice sculpture (which are always impressive.) They had faux gambling too and I was up over a cool million on the craps table. Then I bet $750,000 on 11 in roulette. Lost it all and didn't bat an eye. To think some people do that for real...

Wicked Whirlwind Weekend

Over the weekend, Ken and I battled various forms of sickness. I recovered from a head cold which slowly released its firm grip on my poor sinuses, while Ken jousted with feeling "on the verge" of being sick. But despite this, we kept our full social schedule and interacted with lots of children--because we're reckless like that. First up, Friday night...tired of looking at our sad, naked Christmas Tree, we pulled all the decorations out of the boxes and gave it a proper dressing. Here we are fussing with lighting options because the nuclear flash was much too harsh. Saturday, Dad came up on the train for a mere 5 hours to attend a demonstration/talk by our family friend and master wood worker Joel Shepard. We then showed him what heaven looks like and took him to Whole Foods in Bellevue. Then to kill more time we went to Uwajimaya over by the train station. It was Grocery Store Tour '07. (Why the hell not?) Then we got to meet Princess Hannah Vaslow (age 7 weeks). What a lovely little bean she is. And her parents are so happy and knowledgeable, despite being a little sleep deprived. Sunday, we celebrated Brendan Rich's 2nd birthday and oddly enough, I didn't digitally capture any of the hilarious tissue paper throwing, old-man dancing or other crazy hijinks that a room full of 2-year-olds can muster. By the time we left, I needed a nap but I did better than that and got a Mayan abdominal massage. It was much needed and much awesome. When I returned home, I made (gasp!) organic meatless chili from scratch since we are looking to put more bean protein in our diets. The whole house smelled like chili powder, fried onions and cooked tomatoes. Not a bad thing unless you're trying to fast for a cholesterol blood draw and can't eat anything starting at 8 pm until after 9 am the next day...but I survived. If you're wondering, the chili turned out well--so said Ken and his friend Dave of Salisbury, Maryland who is visiting us for a week during (the US leg of) his "Self-Introspection" tour. No rest for the wicked.

Dane Cook, a week later

(Photos by Juliana S.)

Back on Thursday November 29th, Ken and I went to see Dane Cook. The couple sitting next to us took some amazing pictures and forwarded them to me yesterday. Being so close (7th row)was just a thrill--we could see the whites of his eyes and his spittle as he enunciated or made sound effects. In concert, he is a constantly moving ball of frenetic energy. He did new material and some classics. I was so hoping for the "BK Lounge/Drive Thru" bit but no dice. He was great and I swore he looked right at us a few times.

I admit before the show started, I was a little nervous for 5 reasons:
1. The crowd was almost all early-20-somethings & college kids
2. I realized I am 10 years older than most college kids
3. I realized I cannot hang with college kids. I find them ridiculous.
4. Someone didn't plan their buzz very well and vomited in the next row before the show started. Smelled great.
5. The whole thing started an hour late because only half the arena showed up at time on the ticket (but at least there was no lame opener to sit through.)

But once Dane took the stage, everything was fine. The magic of Dane Cook brings people together. Oh, except for the psycho guy who jumped on stage during the performance and wanted to "trade shirts" with Dane. I'm like, 'where the hell is security?' Most of them just stood around not doing anything. Dane finally got this guy to the edge of the stage and then they realized they should do their job and hauled him out. What a night.

Wishes of Snow in Seattle

For those of you who wished for snow, stop your madness right now. I mean it.

Nobody in this town can drive or remain calm while there's snow on the ground. People tend to think of snow so idyllically and get all romantic, "...it's just not Christmas without snow..." but let's break it down here for a second: During the month of December, more than any other time, you gotta be places. The Mall, parties, relative's house(s), Christmas tree lot, Starbucks, the therapist...wherever. Snow makes traffic 20x worse even if you can drive in it. And let's be honest, the novelty of snow lasts about 1 hour and then it's just annoying.

But there's nothing we can do about it, right? You may think it just falls randomly from the sky, but I think you wishers have something to do with it. This cold front mysteriously came out of nowhere. So if you have to wish for something cold & wet, why not think "ice cream." With a Lactaid or two, even I can get on board with that.