SCOTTY TURNS 21! and I went to the nutcracker

Maholla peeps-

7 days 'till Christmas . . . . . . and counting!!!

Friday night, Alex and I attended the Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of the Nutcracker, and it was awesome! I used to see the Nutcracker every Christmas, either watching a performance that Albee was in, or going to PNB's with Albee. I haven't been able to go for the last two or three years, so it was so great to be back. It really puts you in a Christmasy mood.

This was Alex's first Nutcracker, and I think he really liked it. We sat in the fourth row (on the side, in the cheaper seats), and it was really cool to be right in front. The orchestra pit was so close, and during intermission we were able to peak over the edge and check it out. It really is an amazing performance.

After the Ballet we went to this really nice little restaurant on the top of Queen Anne and had a nice glass of wine and a small bite to eat. It was a great date night, and I am now officially in the Christmas spirit!

Saturday morning we met up with a couple friends for brunch and then headed downtown to do some ho ho-ing. All I can say is, it is CROWDED out there people! I enjoy being out amongst the shoppers for a while, there is a good energy with everyone dressed all wintry and bustling about . . . . but after a couple hours I was ready to stop. Just SO many people!




Saturday night Alex and I headed over to Tori's for Scotty's surprise 21st birthday party (planned by Margaret). There was a really good turnout, and besides Tori yelling as Scotty came up to the door, I think the surprise was pulled off!

Alex and I took off after a while and left the late night parting to the kiddies, but it was really fun to be there to see Scotty's reaction. There was also a pinata which was hilarious! It took Scotty two swings to bring it to the ground, and then a frantic scramble broke out for the best prizes- wish I had captured more of it on film cause it was a riot!

It was also fun to see a bunch of CYO peeps that I haven't seen in a while. One thing you can say about camp people is that they know how to have a good time. A dance party started up almost instantaneously!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOOTER!

Christmas in Seattle

Last night the girls celebrated Christmas with a stroll downtown, ride on the carousel, thai take out, gingerbread house making and our annual gift exchange!

What a great night, it really got me in the spirit of Christmas!

We had grand plans to stop in and see Santa, but after hearing of the hour and a half wait, we opted to take our Christmas pictures into our own hands!Doesn't Seattle look great all dressed up for the holiday season?!


After our walk in the freezing cold, we all headed back to Jody and Vanessa's where we gorged ourselves on thai takeout and build gingerbread houses!



















Here is my Gingerbread house- since I am not as "artistic" as some of the girls, I decided to go with a sturdy base, and pile on the candy!

Countdown to Christmas- 14 Days!

Have A Holly Jolly Christmakuh

It's the best time of the year. . . . . .

This weekend my household played host to the second annual Christmakuh party. This year we changed it up a bit (new smaller house, and late planning). Instead of ugly sweaters, the theme this year was holiday cocktail, meaning everyone dressed nice and we had wine and a champagne Bellini (thanks Carla) rather then a keg.

After getting off to a slow start, the party girls arrived with food and drink around 9, and from then on it was a steady flow of people in and out. We figure we had about 50 people cycle through the house, but probably no more then 20 people were around at any given time, so our small little house worked perfectly. We had a total mix of people there, Max and Anne came, Murph showed up with a few people, including one of Jody's old camp counselors (HAHAHAHA- hope he emails you!). Andy had work friends there, Anton's Madison pals showed up for a while, and it turns out one of them works with Alex at his school- just random mix of people, but really fun.

I went to bed around 1, and there were still a bunch of people hanging out. Actually, I believe all three of us roommates went to bed before the last of the party goers left! Luck for use we have such nice friends :)

The rest of the weekend was nice, I was able to do some ho ho-ing on Sunday morning, which was good since tonight is our friend gift exchange! Excited, we are going to get Santa pics, and then eat Thai food and exchange gifts, fun! I am sure there will be pics for my to post soon.

Sunday night Alex and I went and got a Christmas tree and bought National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. We ate Pho, watched the flick and trimmed the tree, and it was the best Sunday night I've had in a while. Our tree looks amazing (as you can see).

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!

Snowy day turns to rainy floods :(

Maholla ya'll-

What a weekend- let me tell ya. Alex and I went out for happy hour Friday, and then saw "enchanted" at the majestic bay. What a GREAT film!! So cute, Alex even liked it (or said he did . . .), it's genuinely funny - and McDreamy was in it, and Amy Adams made a great princess, it was just good all around. I used to see movies all the time, but for some reason I haven't been to one in a while, so it was all the more fun to eat hot tamales and drink my DC in front of the big screen. I would recommend this movie to anyone (as long as you REALIZE it is a light hearted, kidsie movie).


Saturday we woke up early and ventured out to Fred Myers to pick up some Christmas decorations for Alex's house. We watched "Holiday Inn" while stringing lights around the spiral staircase and the front windows . . . . or should I say "I" strung lights while Alex stared out the window, eagerly awaiting the snowfall King 5 News had promised. Seriously, he STARED out the window for an hour waiting. This whole story is sickeningly domestic, but I ask you not to judge too much, I just love Christmas lights! Oh, and Holiday Inn has a frightening scene where Bing Crosby puts on 'black face' and sings a song . . . . uncomfortable.

Luckily for Alex, the snow began to fall around one. We went on a FREEZING COLD walk in the snow, which was really fun until we had to turn around and walk INTO the wind for the last half, but still, loved the snow. I didn't get around to making my snowman :( Next time I guess.

Saturday night we were suppose to go to a bday party for one of Alex's friends, but they canceled at the last minuet (bday girl was sick), so we ended up heading over to his brother's house for some homemade tomato basil soup that was DELICIOUS, and a few bottles of wine. The night ended with tipsy me reading bed time stories to Alex's 4 year old niece. . . .and Alex nearly passing out on her bed while I read. HA HA. Anyone need a babysitter? KIDDING!

Sunday I surprised Max and Anne and Oggy with a quick visit. Ogg the Dog apparently hated the snow, which I could see since he really has no fur. Sunday was pretty uneventful other then that, rain rain rain.

Monday morning, however, has proved to be anything but dull. I have been up since six helping poor Alex. His basement FLOODED due to all the rain. Luckily the basement is only accessible from outside the main house, but still, disaster. His basement has water up to the top step! His neighbors yards are completely under water. I just met with the roto rooter guy, who literally exclaimed "holy crap! I've never seen ANYTHING like this" . . . . not encouraging. I think the plan is to try and wait out the continuous rain, and hopefully someone can come and pump out the water soon. There is at least three feet of standing water- not good.

Poor Alex, sucks to be a homeowner in times like these. Boy howdy. (scoots). Hopefully my next blog will have beautiful, water free pics of Alex's basement, cross your fingers!

crossing my fingers for snow!

Maholla Peeps-

So they say it may snow this weekend . . . . . and if it does I am replicating this AWESOME snowman! haha! Actually, this does really resemble some of my early childhood snow creations back on 6227 NE 154th St. So many memories of sledding down the driveway- hanging a sharp right and the bottom to cruise under and around the large pine tree, finally screeching to a halt at the mailbox. So many good times.
Seriously though- I REALLY REALLY REALLY want it to snow, even if its not on a weekday (and I miss work). I love the first (and in Seattle, sometimes only) snow of the season. I remember Freshman year when I was at the University of Montana in Missoula. It was Halloween night, and a few dorm friends and I decided to go trick-or-treating (despite the fact that we were 19)! On the way back it started snowing really really hard. SO COLD, but so fun. Everyone was out that night in costumes, and as we roamed from party to party we saw various witches, goblins, vampires, etc. out playing in the snow. Snow = good times, so I say - weather, BRING IT ON!

Thanksgiving Day Band!

Yello-

Well . . . . . as some of you know, Rich Kay put together a band that performed at this years Padden Thanksgiving.

Here are some pics of the band, I played guitar on "Someday Soon", with Margaret on vocal, my dad on lead guitar. The song turned out very well, Madge sounded great!

Maria also sang a couple songs with accompaniment from Max on electric guitar, they sounded great as well. I was opposed to this project at the start, but it turned out fine and in the end I was glad to be a part of it. The highlight had to be seeing my Grandpa get up and dance, along with a few of his grandchildren doing their best "grandpa dance impersonation"- too funny.

Seattle Half Marathon Run

Maholla peeps-


Well, I did it. The day I should have been training for arrived, the day of the Seattle Half Marathon. Alex and I awoke at 6:30 am, dressed, ate oatmeal and drank just enough coffee to not have a pounding headache, but not too much to make ourselves puke when running.

The 30 degree darkness stuck around until the start of the race, but it was exciting jumping up and down in the crowd of 10,000+ to stay warm. Alex and I started out together, but he quickly pulled ahead. I hung back and jogged the first mile, thinking the crowd would eventually spread out . . . . it never really did. The whole 13.1 miles I ran in a pack of people, which was fine actually, it really keeps you going.

Around miles 5, I REALLY had to use the bathroom, so I pulled over to a port-a-potty, but the lady in front of me took seriously FOREVER in there- at least 3-4 min. Made me so mad, but that was the only time I stopped, I ran the whole way.

Big thanks to Char and Francie who advised me to carry honey packets with me. I sucked on one of those around mile 6, and another at mile 11. They really gave me a burst of energy. I had one interesting moment during the run. It was around mile 8, and I had just run up hill from the Seattle Tennis Club, over to Madison Ave, and up Madison's hill to the arboretum. At the top of the hill there was this lady, who from the goodness of her heart was passing out orange slices, and I seriously about cried. It was the nicest thing, and it just tasted so good and I had been running for so long . . . . ha ha. Anyway, tears of joy were shed for the orange slice and the nicest lady in the world.

Overall I must say the run was nice, I only had a little trouble on mile 12, which was down hill and my toe started ramming in to my shoes . . . . but I finished strong. My time was 2:03, but I KNOW I would have run it in under 2 hours if that lady had not taken SO LONG in the bathroom . . . . . . uggghhhhh. Well, that and if I had trained properly, ha ha. Anyway, Alex finished at 1:49. SO FAST!!!

I do feel proud that I ran the whole thing, and that it was NOT too bad considering the only training I did was running greenlake every other day, and 2 6 mile runs. I do feel a sense of accomplishment, and I would consider running another one . . . . . just not anytime soon :)

My mom and dad met us at the finish line, which was super nice. It means a lot to have people cheering you on. They took us out for brunch after, which was also really nice. The rest of the weekend was spend lounging around on Alex's futon, watching various Christmas movies and moving as little as possible.

Ciao!

Thanksgiving with friends

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

My household played host to our first annual "friends thanksgiving" this past weekend, and it was a roaring success! Since we will all be out of town or with our own families on the actual holiday, we figured it'd be a great excuse to have an early turkey-day dinner party and celebrate the Pilgrims and Indians together as friends.


Everyone brought their favorite dish to share, and I cooked my first turkey! I was fairly paranoid that the turkey would come out dry and dinner would be ruined (and gma would yell at me . . . . kidding) - but it turned out great so all my fears were for nothing. Cooking a turkey is an experience, I did NOT know it came with the neck and the giblets . . . . yuck! My roommate Andy had a nice surprise Saturday morning, when he sleepily entered the kitchen to find me with my hands stuck up the turkey's arse, massaging lemon juice in to the innards. HA HA ha ha.

After dinner we had a rowdy dance party in the kitchen- and some of us made it out to Moe's to help celebrate Kostas's 26th bday. All in all it was a great Thanksgiving kick-off!
Next on my holiday list, another early Thanksgiving dinner at Alex's school on Tuesday, and then the big Padden family turkey day celebration on Thursday! THREE TURKEY DINNERS IN ONE WEEK!!!!! Yum.

Spokane and the Talking Toucan!

Hello to all my peeps.

Back at work, took a long weekend and traveled over the mountains to Eastern WA. It was grand- I spent some time in Spokane at Gonzaga with Margaret. Between eating bagel dogs and feeding the garbage goat, Alex and I were introduced to the Talking Toucan. AMAZING. Possibly the most amazing 'talking toy' since Teddy Ruxpin, and thats saying A LOT!

This little perched bird sits on its log, but when turned on it repeats WHATEVER you say to it. This is one of those times when words fail to tell the whole story. It is just SO FUNNY! We spent hours getting this feathered friend to repeat phrases and songs in its funny voice. Even from inside the tent we set up in the living room, Alex was calling out movie quotes in hysterical laughter. You can purchase one of these birds on amazon, and I wold seriously reccomend this to anyone, especially with the holidays coming up . . . . think about it!

Moving on.

Spokane is an interesting city, in that it's both nice and crappy at the same time. It has great restaurants, its not completely behind the times when it comes to shopping and movies. It has a garbage goat, and a giant radio flyer.
However, if you travel a bit out of downtown, it's strip mall after strip mall after strip mall. ODD.

It was a very fun weekend thought. Margaret, Alex and I took a great run along the river, and then walked back downtown for coffee. Margaret gave Alex the tour of Spokane, pointing out all the attractions along the way. Alex was introduced to the Falls of the Spokane river, however, much to my relief the gondolas that travel across the river were closed due to high winds, weeeewhhh! Alex and Margaret also competed in some intense speed walking races . . . . . . not sure who ended up winning, too close to call.

Sometimes I feel like I went to Gonzaga since I've spent so much time there during my travels back and forth between Seattle and Missoula. It really is my college away from home.

Alright- not too much else to say, short work week for me, woot woot!

Next week Montana plays GU in a basketball pre-season game- so GO GRIZ!!!!!

Ladies and Germs, I present to you the one, the only, JODY NORWOOD

It has been brought to my attention that my dearest pal Jody is NOT IN my friend picture post!!!! Somehow she did not make it in that cute pic (which I thought included the whole gang), my guess is she was taking the picture, but none the less, she has sadly been excluded :( Therefore, I dedicate this Friday post to her . . . . . lets take a quick trip down Jody's memory lane. . . .

"Sluts, all four of you!" - Ruth Norwood

Cap Hill Block Partyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

In San Fran after surviving a swat team raid!

Sasquatch 2007!!!

THE GIRLS

Happy Friday Everyone!!!!

I am heading to Eastern WA for the weekend- Spokecompton look out! Can't wait to get my hands on a bagel doggggggg . . . . . . . hmmmmmmmmmmm . . . . . . . so yummy!!!! Seriously- SO GOOD!!!! With mustard. Yum.

Dan in real life

So I saw this movie, or should I say I SAT THROUGH THIS GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT of a movie on Sunday. Man, what a bummer. I HATE seeing bad movies in the theater. It just really puts a damper on the whole popcorn, diet coke, big screen experience that I love. This was a classic example of a movie that, if rented, would leave with a so-so feeling, but when viewed for $10 is makes you HATE YOURSELF and the fact that you chose to go to this rather then 'American Gangster' like an idiot! I can't help it, when I go out to see a film, I naturally have high expectations. It's actually one of the only things in my life that I approach in this way, odd. Anyhow, my expectations were stomped on during this slacker of a film.

The real problem with this movie is that it co-starred Dane Cook. Now, I admit, his stand-up, whilst repetitive, was very very funny the first few times I saw it. After that, I started to realize that he re-uses jokes or whatever, but he is a funny comedian. HOWEVER- he ruins movies. Or at least he ruined this one. Let's face it, he is not an actor. He doesn't know how to be anyone but himself, and without an audience urging him on, he falls flat on his face. He acts like a child in a grown mans body, and its just lame. Also, he was in that horrid movie with Jessica Simpson. DANE COOK IS LAME AND HE MADE ME HAVE A BAD MOVIE EXPERIENCE. Speaking of Jessica Simpson though, I just rewatched the first season of newlyweds- SO GOOD. Really, so good.

That is all.