pa pa pa pa ..... SLURP

Maholla peeps-

Friday night was a true girls night! I was house-sitting at my aunt and uncles gorgeous new house this past week, and on Friday the girls joined me for a blind wine tasting party! We started the night off by making dinner together. Jody found this great Mediterranean chicken recipe, served with bell peppers, hummus, and pita bread. Yum!

During dinner we started the tastings. We each brought a bottle of white wine that was under $10, placed it in one of the numbered bags, and then tried our best to swirl it around and decipher the different flavors. Needless to say, our technique and choice of wines would make wine enthusiasts cringe, but we had a great time doing it! We topped the meal off with a dessert of fruit and whipped cream. By the time we called it a night, it was well past one o'clock- true girl talk ;)

Life is a CABARET old chum

Maholla Peeps-

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome!

My mom and I celebrated her birthday at the 5th Avenue Theater last night where we caught the opening night performance of CABARET. As described by the man we eavesdropped on during intermission- "I just adore it, ADORE IT" We couldn't have agreed more. It was amazing, one of the best musicals I've seen there. The cast was phenomenal, not a weak link on stage. My favorite character was the Emcee, who was a constant humorous on stage taking you from scene to scene.

I have never seen the movie, but I have been told the stage version of Cabaret varies from the Liza Minnelli screen adaption a bit. I was also unaware that it was such a political musical. Cabaret takes place in Berlin, Germany during the lead up to Nazi rule and World War II. It follows the life of a young, naive American man who travels to Berlin to write a novel. He meets a girl at the Cabaret, and before you know it they are living the party scene and the novel is all but forgotten. You also see another love story develop between their elder landlord and a Jewish fruit seller. Just when everything seems to be going perfectly the Nazi's show themselves more prominently. Soon the parties and innocent lifestyles become immersed in Nazi culture, and the Cabaret ceases to exist. It actually ends kinda sad, you are the audience know what tragedy lies ahead with World War II, yet the Germans and Jewish-Germans still have so much hope that things will turn around. They never believe their country could turn on its own people, after all, they are Germans.

If you get the chance to see this musical- definitely take it. It has great song and dance numbers, especially the girls and guys from the the kit-kat club (scandal)!!! What a fun night!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Happy Birthday Mutti!

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

Go Griz!

Maholla peeps!



Saturday night Nick and Vanessa hosted a "college pride" party in honor of Vanessa's sister (who is actually IN college) spring break vacation visit.

Everyone wore their college sweatshirts and t-shirts. It was amazing how all of us live in Seattle, yet we had almost NO Washington schools represented. Michelle held her own as a Huskie, and I don't think I saw one Cougar! The majority of peeps were from Chapman- but Alex and I represented Montana pride-GO GRIZ! Everyone looked so cute in their school colors.

I haven't been to a house party in forever- especially a theme party. It totally had that "college vibe" to it - throw back to better times-haha. I only wish I could have stayed longer, but an early Easter Mass forced me to bed at an early hour.

I leave you with the Griz fight song!

"Up with Montana, boys,

down with the foe,
Good ol' Grizzlies
out for a victory;
We'll shoot our backs
'round the foemen's line;
Hot time is coming now,
oh, brother mine.
Up with Montana, boys,
down with the foe,
Good old Grizzlies
triumph today;
And the squeal of the pig
will float on the air;
From the tummy of
the Grizzly Bear."

Oofda!

Maholla-

Oofda oofda I am sore. A few friends and I started a 6 week pilates intro class at Maya in Fremont, and last night's session proved to be a strain for my muscles! I feel like they tricked us a bit, the first class was super easy- very basic- and here we are 4 weeks later and my back is SO SORE! Don't even get me started on my abs . . . . It's a good pain though, at least I know its working.

I really like our instructor Erin- she keeps a good pace when moving from position to position, and she explains each move so we can follow with relative ease. There was one point in yesterday's class where she did come over and reposition my stomach fat in to a more appropriate position- and I could have done without that- hahaha. Oh well, its a learning process. Here's to a summer of confident bikini wearing!

Happy Wednesday everyone.

soups up!

Maholla-

First- CONGRATS to Anne for getting in to Seattle University's Law School!!!!!! Max, Anne, Alex and I celebrated with some yummy Zoka pie Friday night!

Alex's friends Curtis and Trumi invited us over for dinner Saturday night. Trumi is from Japan, and is an amazing chef. Every time they invite us over for dinner Trumi make a traditional Japanese dish for us to try. On Saturday night she made a wonderful soup . . . . I wish I could remember the name! The broth is placed in a giant communal pot that sits on a small propane burner right on the table. Throughout the meal Trumi would place different foods in to the broth, closing the lid for a few minutes to cook before opening it up again and serving it in our individual bowls. The soup had cabbage, noodles, cod, pork, tofu, etc. It was really amazing!


Along with dinner, we sipped on some very fine Sake. Trumi's brother had brought it over from Japan a few months ago, so we were treated to a very well refined and flavorful sake. My experience drinking sake in the past was nothing like this- there was NO burning on the throat at all. In fact, I was told I had probably been drinking the equivalent of "maddog" in the sake world if I felt burning-haha. This was very smooth and good. So good in fact, we stayed out too late and didn't make it up skiing! Oh well, I will take a hot bowl of soup over a cold snowy mountain any day!

Happy St. Patricks Day! Hope everyone has a good Monday!

Freitag!

Maholla-


Thank GOODNESS its Friday- thats all I have to say. What a week! I don't know if its because day-light savings went in to affect, or because our sunny weather had been replaced by rain, but this was one sleepy week for me. I have felt so tired, no matter how much sleep I get. Boo urns. Hopefully I will have time to lounge this weekend and do some catching up.

There were some perks to this blah week. Wednesday night I met up with Philly and Carla for some Thai food at Jamjuree. We celebrated Philly getting into the grad program at Seattle U- Go Phillz! After dinner we walked over to Michelle's cute new apartment right off 15th. It is a very LARGE studio (I would call it a one bedroom) in a darling brick building. It has a spacious kitchen, hardwood floors, and a wonderful living space. Michelle also showed us lovely pictures of Jody in junior high . . . . ha! Getting together with friends on Wednesdays really helps to break the week up.

Last night we all ventured over to Danny and Jen's new living space (it was the week of new houses!) to watch LOST. They live in an awesome loft in Magnolia off of Jen's parent's house. It is an amazing space, high ceilings- heated floor- great open space with a wall of windows that open up completely, allowing the space to be open air. It really LOOKS like they belong there- very artsy and creative, just like them! I wish I had pics to post for you all. LOST was amazing and sad . . . . . Jin.

Here's to the weekend!

Freedom

Maholla peeps!

As many of you know, I recently had a little run in with the law. I just wanted to let you all know that I am officially FREE!!! YAY! No jail time for me :)

I am back on the roads, cruisin' in the Buick, NOT speeding, paying all fines on time . . . . .

Thanks to those who drove my arse around for the last week- damn that Napa trip- continues to haunt me-haha.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!!!

You're always there to make me feel 'not old' ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Maholla-

This past weekend was my birthday! To celebrate my parents hosted a dinner in my honor on Friday night, which was wonderful. My mom made a delicious lemon cake from scratch-YUM YUM! Anne, Carly and Cara Chamberlin (a great surprise) were able to come, and Char and Francie were still in town, so it was quite a crowd.

After dinner Alex and I joined the Cap. Hill gang at Neumos for the KEXP birthday bash concert set. We were both tired on the way there, but got our second wind when we saw everyone and started dancing to the music.

Saturday night, Alex took me out to MONSOON for a birthday dinner. It was just delectable- Monsoon is officially my favorite restaurant in Seattle. We tried a few dishes, but my favorite was the catfish! Really though, everything you order at Monsoon is wonderful, I have never had a bad experience.


Sunday Alex and I joined Jody and Anton at the Greenlake pitch-n-putt for a round of "golf". A great way to end the weekend!

Seaside, OR

Maholla peeps-

This past weekend my friends and I took a much needed weekend away at Seaside. My family has a cute cabin just off the S. prom that managed to fit all 12 of us comfortably! This was also an early birthday celebration for me, as I will be turning 27 on Friday (old old old).

We arrived Friday night and just as we were settling in, it began to hail, thunder and lighting!
Much to my delight, Saturday morning greeted us with sunny skies! Alex and I walked downtown to get coffee, and then had the joy of sitting on the deck with in the sun with the gang while Nick and Kostas cooked up a wonderful breakfast!

After breakfast we all headed downtown, walking on the beach with the sun on our backs, passing the folf disk along the way. Downtown we did it all:tilt-a- whirl, putt putt golf, caramel corn, and plenty of skeeball!

We had a lovely lunch at bee bop burger before heading back to the cabin for some afternoon naps.Kostas and Nick worked their magic on the indoor BBQ for dinner, and everyone surprise d me with an awesome (and HUGE) birthday cake! After dinner most of us headed down to the beach for a bon fire.




All in all, a nearly perfect weekend at the beach!