Travelog swift and silly

As always at the last minute of a personal trip to see friends, there is a scramble to cram things in. And I tried. I was not, however, willing to sacrifice my last sleep in day of the vacation. People were busy scurrying around. I slept in. It was wonderful. Mom and I went to lunch at Taco Time. When my plans for last minute coffee dates didn’t come through, I cashed in my mani-pedi gift certificate from Christmas then ran to get my hair cut. It was wingding running. Pretty fantastic. I think, for now, that my hair look pretty good. It’s always nice to feel like at least you are looking well as you start a new year.

We celebrated Mom’s birthday two days early so I could be there. We had dinner at Buca di Bepo. It was great. Lots of tired jokes were made by everyone. The pictures can’t do justice to the laughter around the table.

This morning I didn’t wake until my Mom woke me despite my cell phone alarm. It was . . . sketchy. Silly me. It was snowing as Mom and I left the house, with some accumulation. The traffic, even at 6:30 am was clogging up on I-5. Yet everything all seemed smooth. (Are you waiting for the other shoe to drop yet?) I checked in, got through security in record time for Sea-Tac, and was waiting patiently. I checked my phone left on silent and noticed I had four missed calls. That is a large number, especially for roughly 7 am! My father and mother had called separately to inform me that I left nothing essential . . . except my keys! Luckily I was set to arrive early enough to as the super to let me into my apartment with the spare set. Dad fedexed the keys overnight. Silly Lili. Thank you, Dad.

Almost the end

Its just two days now until I return to the school grind. I can't say I am looking forward to it, but I am finally getting some "vacation" feeling time in. And here are the pictures to prove it.

Yesterday I took in the Seattle Wedding Show with my friend Robin who is getting married, as well as her mother and a friend. I can't say that I ever want to willingly do that again. What a nightmare. By the end my stomach hurt from bad (and a few good) wedding cake testings. There were a number of cool flower vendors. These represent just few of the pictures I took.

REI buying new hiking boots and renting snowshoes and poles. ToWe did cap the day well with a dinner at Claim Jumper, a place designed for overeating. Then Mom and Dad and I went shopping. Dad and I ended up spending close to two and a half hours inday we tried them out at Gold Creek up Snoqualmie Pass. It was great fun and very beautiful. I throughly enjoyed the chance to get out and about. I feel better today than I have in a while.

Hung out and had a great time... No schoooool!

Its coming, the elephant in the room (ok, just my mind!). School is coming. I leave on Tuesday to return to the grind. Ugh. But here were some pictures of my nights work. Dinner with the core group. Wonderful since we haven't all been in the same place together in several years.

Thank you Paige for this wonderful shot. I knew you wouldn't mind!

I changed my links to think again. I am not sure how many follow these. But I thought I would add a quote from the Institute of Medicine (a government research organization which has some really excellent studies on all modern medically related topics).

• Health insurance is more than a mechanism for spreading financial risks; it also promotes appropriate use of preventive and routine health care services that otherwise may be underutilized (IOM, 2002a,b).
  

Something to think on.

Pictures! And catch up for two weeks (almost!)

Christmas rolled in with a bang. I arrived early and rested up for the non-stop events of the season. When Christmas day finally arrived, Mom was laid low with a nasty cold and Dad and I cobbled together a dinner for all of us, which everyone enjoyed. Thankfully Mom was feeling somewhat better by the next day.

By the time the two weddings of the Saturday the 29th rolled around, Mom was mostly back to fighting form. I dressed for the rehearsal dinner on Friday for my friend Missa's wedding. There is a difference between the rehearsal dinner pictures and the later wedding pictures. I think we look less tired here. The night started out as a chance to eat wonderful dinner and ended as a bit of a happy tearfest when all the stories of Matt and Missa, childhood and adulthood, were dragged out and enjoyed, many of them cried over. It was beautiful.

The next morning we gathered together, dragging in slowly to to get ready. Hillary and I posed together after having our hair done, self-portrait extraordinary. By later the curls would be a bit looser (ie. coming out, pins falling, hair flying).
Missa and Matt pulled off the day beautifully and looked happy throughout. The minor stresse s passed and after so many years of dating, they finally tied the knot. Before the fact we took pictures down at Pike Place Market. Hillary and I enjoyed showing our horror at the "gum wall". One of the groomsmen tried to the place his gum highest on the wall. Despite the rain, we had a wonderful time! We frozen our bums off for sure!

Next up was the reception at the Space Needle. By this point we incredibly tired. But we all danced 'til our feet hurt!

Seattle Space Needle with wind rushing past!

As I have been promising forever

I know I have been slacking on the blogging. And tonight I promise to upload a bunch of cool beans pictures. And soon I will have links to all the other pictures of my goings ons. My aunt's wedding in Aberdeen passed well. My mother pulled together miracles with the flowers as usual. She is amazing. And the flowers for Missa's wedding (which was a significantly larger undertaking) came together beautifully as well! And Missa and Matt breathe a hefty sigh that they are finally married (we have been waiting forever, yet it came too soon!).

I will do details later. But my cousin and her daughters as well as mom and I are running to eat (at 4pm!).

White Christmas 2007

Enjoying white Christmas Seattle style. Shocking snow!