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.

Rocky Votolato at the Showbox

Last night was the Rocky Votolato concert at the Showbox, and despite our weary Thursday night tired-heads, we ventured out and it was well worth it. Alex's friend Ella bought a ticket at the last min., and it turns out that she used to work sales with Rocky (which blows my mind- this alt/country songster in sales?) so that was pretty cool. We saw him out front prior to the show, and he gave her a big hug, shook our hands and thanked us for coming out to see him. So nice, really. Its great to see genuinely nice people, and it doesn't hurt that they're great musicians :).

Rocky's music is my kinda country music . . . . . slide guitar, harmonica, and no southern drawl, haha.

Alright- work work. TGIF!!!!