R and R

So I’ve had Toby home for roughly 30 hours… but this is not a blog about him… Though I am in full puppy parent obsession mode, I need some balance in my life, and I figure not everyone wants to read about the snudgy cuteness of bulldog…. All in due time.

I escaped to Seattle for a long weekend with my college roommate. It was so wonderful to get away, have real conversations, reminisce about old times, catch up on tv and celebrity gossip (they are re-making Dirty Dancing? Why god why, are we allowing this to happen? I respect the Havannah Nights prequel… in fact I may secretly like it better than the original… for different reasons. Don’t judge me… but don’t you think Patrick is rolling over in his grave just a little? ) We ate, we drank, we took in some baseball games… all in all it was the perfect weekend…

Yes, I was spooned/ smothered by a giant cat (he weighs 19 pounds… Toby only weighs 16) and I am no cat person, but I put up with the awkward nighttime encroachment, and I’m glad I did.  Wakefield didn’t get his 200^th win… but by god, there were garlic fries, and lots of them!  

Safeco field is one of my favorite places for awkward encounters. How many thousands of people does it seat, and yet some-how I always manage to run into someone I know. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. This trip, I made a point of meeting up with an ex from a million years ago. We are friend(ish) now, but its been a long road, filled with a variety of tensions… but what safer environment to meet up at? There are thousands of people, and the garlic fries alone are enough to make sure that regardless of any ulterior motives, nothing sexy will ever happen. (they are pretty much fool proof). I managed to get through the encounter with… well probably not grace, but it wasn’t awkward either. There was a moment, in which I spastically flailed my foot around trying to show off my tattoo… more spastic than awkward though… and we drank our beer, ate our garlic fries, talked about Toby, hugged, and went our separate ways.

nothing is quite as awkward as this photo though...

A more awkward encounter was when I was eating said garlic fries, with said ex, and ran into my old roommate’s husband’s parents. I have met them dozens of times, I have hosted them for Easter brunch, I even coordinated their son’s wedding… and still I got the “excuse me…. Did you go to Linfield?” Really I cannot be surprised about this…. I blame it on my homeschooling, but I seem to have a knack for blending into the woodwork. I get this in the wine industry all the time… I’ve been working in it for the past four years, and it doesn’t matter how many networking events I attend, and how many times I make an introduction, it doesn’t even matter if I’m behind the wine bar at my place of work…. People cannot seem to remember my face or who I work for…. I like to think that this would make me excellent as espionage. Forgettable face, ulterior motives (not really, I don’t have any… but seriously… for a person this awkward, I certainly don’t stand out in a sea of faces). It’s ok…. I have other talents.

It was the perfect pre-pet ownership getaway. I got to dress up, talk baseball, order fancy menu items, sleep in, lounge around, and indulge in cocktails, brunches, and excursions... Thanks for a great weekend!