a good year to be 27

I got lost two sundays ago in Edmonds. I set out from my grandma's place with the intent to wander off until things were unfamiliar.

This was pretty easy to accomplish since it was foggy and a little disorienting. I had a moments hesitation about my plan when I came to a point far from home where things looked familiar again but I didn't know what relation this familiarity was to home. I stood on the corner for a minute thinking thoughts along the lines of have I been gone long enough that my parents might come looking for me? It was exciting and a little disappointing when I realized I wasn't as lost as I thought I was. Fantastic crisp fall morning to go for a wandering walk.

I made a four legged friend and together we roamed the streets. He chased squirrels, I took pictures. It was a beautiful friendship. We parted ways when he found a big black lab to chase and I decided it was time to figure out how to get home.



















27 today! An hour into it and I'm feeling pretty good about 27. It'll be a good year. The design program is taking longer than expected so I can expect to be in school at least a semester longer than planned. I'll graduate college at 28. I don't know how I feel about this yet. I know I should just enjoy the process but I am impatient. But then what will it be after that? Probably just the start of something else I'll be impatient about seeing the end result.

A common theme in my life I guess. I'm going to try to curb that a little. I've got a whole year to be 27 and I think I'll make it a goal to stop looking forward to the next thing and enjoy the thing at hand. That's a funny kind of balancing act. Live in the moment but keep the future in sight as well. I've painted my version of a perfect future but I've decided I don't know anything about what would be my perfect future beside the typical answers. I'm more willing than ever to be wrong about what I consider perfect because I've been pleasantly surprised by the unknown. But that is much too introspective and I've learned these kinds of entries here only embarrass me so I'll just say that my birthday resolution will be to make this year count.

Dial M for Murder

After last night I am so in the mood for a Hitchcock film. It's the craziest thing that I can't find Dial M for Murder at the video stores. You would think they would stock that kind of classic?

Meet Roberto Martine. Bodyguard. Handsome and suave. His athletic body is irresistible to women. No matter what the outfit, he adds gold chains.

And Tiffany Enderly. Airline flight attendant. Self assured, confident and elegant. Arrives to the party straight from the airport in her blue and white uniform and classic diamond jewelry.

Jackie and Jeff threw a Murder Mystery party last night and I can't speak for the other characters, but I got a kick out of playing my part and solving a murder mystery.

Turns out Roberto was more than just a bodyguard and Tiffany was more than just a flight attendant. {but not a Sarah Palin impersonator}

I won't give anything away because maybe you might want to play the game sometime. {available online} It was a great idea for a fun dinner party. Leave it to Jackie and Jeff to do something so creative and fun. THANKS JACKIE!!!

One last thing. It just so happens that Roberto is Bearded M from a few posts back. Now you have a face to go with the name. How annoying is it that this is all I'm going to give you on him?

part 2: bottle pool + edmonds beach

Playing pool with grandpa was a favorite for all the grand kids. He was a pool shark even when his vision got bad and he said there was doubles of everything.

From an early age he would let us play under his supervision. We had to be calm about it, there wasn't any goofing off. He showed me how to hold the cue stick correctly and aim for difficult shots. It was a thrill every time I sunk a shot.

Once, a few years back, I actually won!! I never, ever, EVER win. And I don't think he let me either. Even as he was telling me I couldn't tell anyone I won I was already upstairs bouncing around celebrating. No way could I keep that to myself.

Grandpa was a carpenter and did all the beautiful inlay woodwork in the room. It's a shame that it is mostly hidden by the build up of stuff from over the years. I love this room with the layers of mismatch carpet, the familiar smells, piles of memories, all of this with jazz or oldies playing on the old radio.Uncle Robby stepped in as my coach because I still have a difficult time lining up my own shots for this game. There are a combination of ways to score and if I was left to do things on my own I'd probably stick to Ben's school of thought and 'hit it hard' instead of trying for a 'billiard' or 'bottle shots'. It is such a great game.

I think Grandpa was there with us this weekend. I never play like I played this weekend. He had to be behind that stroke of luck.

Edmonds beach is another tradition for our family.

I was relentless when it came to going to the beach with Grandpa. He would check the paper to see if the tide was out and if it was we would be off with our buckets.

I can't believe this, and neither will you, but I used to be scared of the creatures he would pick up from under the rocks we would turn over. I would tiptoe around with him and watch as he scooped them up but I didn't want anything to do with those creepy looking crabs.

In true Grandpa fashion while I was distracted he asked me to hold a crayon he had just found.

C'mon! Honestly? A crayon?! In the ocean. I was such a trusting, gullible girl.

The rest is Bug Girl history.

Grandpa had a way of making everything feel special. So many of the things I enjoy in life come from learning from the way he lived his life.

part 1: waterfront + pikes place

Going to Seattle every summer growing up was so great. I can't go there with out having a flood of memories. Especially this trip because it was strange being there without Grandpa and so many of my favorite Seattle memories have him in them.

We have our traditional spots to hit.

Ivars on the waterfront in Seattle is one of the oldest traditions in the history of me.
Grandpa used to take us there for fish and chips. Fish for us, chips for the gigantic seagulls.

Here's Ben! Standing outside the cafe where Tom Hanks has the conversation about getting 'back out there' and wonders if it is still the same.

"Are we grading on the curve?"

Growing up Pike's Place was all about finding the coolest treasure to take home as a souvenir. I liked the things the artists were selling, they seemed so sophisticated and cool. I'm not as interested in what the vendors have to offer anymore. I was happy just being the annoying little sister taking pictures of everything and goofing off. The whole busy place is an overload of fantastic colors and people and smells. Not to sound too hippie but the energy is amazing!
I can safely say Pike's Place is one of my favorite places on the planet.

the ax

I quit my job today. {and/or I got fired.} Depends on who you ask.

Should I give you a minute to let that sink in?

If you recall just a few short months ago I had all kinds of enthusiasm about the opportunity I saw in working for such a talented designer. I still do have that enthusiasm for the many good parts of the experience.

But day in, day out having The Man pick at my flaws was starting to take a toll. I don't have the time, or the patience, to care that much if I have bobby pins in my hair! If it wasn't the way I styled my hair it was what I chose to wear. If I got lucky and got away with what I thought was fashionable he found a flaw in how I worded a purchase order or my lack of the ability to read his mind.

We lacked the chemistry he repeatedly said he wanted and I was losing my mind trying to live within the confines of who he thought I should be. Eggshells come to mind when I think of how I felt so much of the time.

First thing today S said she needed to talk to me, and said "it's not going to be easy." I sat down and with a GIGANTIC {inward} sigh of relief and said, "You're going to fire me!" I laughed and told her how great I thought this was because all I could think about was quitting.

memories

While I'm away I thought I'd leave a longer than usual entry for you. It's a story about Grandpa Rix. I've been thinking of memories and writing them down and this is a particular favorite.

Every summer since I can remember one of the biggest events was Grandma and Grandpa coming to visit. It was almost as big as the adventure to go visit them!

I would anticipate their arrival and prepare days ahead by laying out my favorite outfit to wear on the floor in a flat version of how it would look on me.

I would wait at the corner of our block watching for their shiny white car. This past time of watching for Crown Victoria’s has made me an expert at spotting them from far away. I would patrol the neighborhood for signs of their arrival and consult the clock on a regular basis.

Finally, just when I would think I couldn’t wait any longer, their car would slide around the corner and I was off like a bullet. I’d pedal as fast as I could and once I hit our driveway I’d be off my bike in a practiced move while it still flew across the yard rider-less. I’d be standing there ready for them to pull in just waiting for hugs and kisses and compliments on the assortment of things I would pepper them with as soon as the greetings were out of the way and the car had been unpacked and washed. I loved this ritual, the smell of his hot car and the water evaporating on the cement.

Grandpa had all the patience in the world for my ridiculous ways. He let me guide him through the yard, showing off my tree house, the latest bug collections and the sand box in the earlier years. He liked seeing the garden and sitting in the yard with a glass of water. I even got him to sit under my tree house, it was the closest he’d get to it, and we shelled peas together via a pulley we set up for our convenience.

One particular afternoon stands out in my memory. We sat in the back yard in comfy chairs under the cherry tree. I think we were supposed to be picking cherries but we were mostly eating them. We had the ladder set up and we took turns picking cherries and bringing them back down to our chairs to enjoy them. We were really living the high life until Grandpa took the time to actually look at one of the cherries he was eating.

A slinky little white worm dangled from the uneaten half of the cherry. He broke open another, and another, to make sure it was just a fluke. It wasn’t. All the cherries were infested with the nasty infiltrators.

I’ve seen grandpa move quick before but this time set records. I followed him closely as he raced into the house. I wasn’t as grossed out as he was. I thought the whole thing was really funny and wanted to see what he was going to do. I followed him to the sink where he quickly pulled his teeth out, a cool bonus in my opinion, and started brushing them while at the same time gurgling mouth wash and going on about how mad he was at those worms!

Grandpa never let me live it down. It was somehow my responsibility to know about those worms in the cherries. We laughed together about our near death experience often. Grandpa swore off cherries ever after.

my loving lately list

eol.org - this is my website of choice for killing a couple non-design related minutes. It has been added to my favorites because it is a database all about bugs, animals, plants, bacteria. Every Living Thing. I learned something new about the White Throated Wallaby today and was amazed.

Ann Demeulemester's store in Seoul, Korea. I put in on my wish list of things to do while there this Christmas. It isn't a priority, but if we are in the neighborhood I would LOVE to see it. The walls are covered with a evergreen type plant. Wanna know how it is accomplished? Check this out.

Counting down to seeing my big {bald} brother Ben. {21 hrs} Did I mention it has been TWO years since I saw him? Time to catch up.

My Gospel Doctrines class. It get out at 10 pm and you know it's good when I'm following the discussion at the end of Brutal Tuesdays. {tuesdays are by far the longest day of my life}

Sweater weather and my Subway card.

not focused

Snow in October! What a treat.

School work sounds so unappealing today {and all weekend if I'm being honest} so I've pretty much wasted my biggest day of the week to get things done.

I'm mentally already in Seattle playing with my brother and enjoying some time set apart to remembering the life of Grandpa. I teared up today just thinking about all the great stories I'm going to hear this weekend about one of my favorite people.

So instead of being ultra productive I'm peppering my attempts at homework with lots of breaks.

I thought it might be more important to give you the rundown of the second date?

Interested?

No. You couldn't possibly be. But I'll tell you I am. This guy is pretty great.

That's all I'm going to say. If I change my blog to private access only I might divulge more but I googled myself the other day and got the shock of my life when my blog was at the top of the list. Didn't realize it was so accessible!

I'm a little leery of the internet right now. Some guy in Kansas stole my credit card info somehow and tried to buy almost $300 dollars worth of herbal supplements online. I was really lucky the store called me to make sure I knew someone was using my card.

I am...

I loved the rainy conference weekend.
Since my parents have friends in high places we were able to score tickets to the sunday morning session.
We got there early and watched people, listened to the choir practice and enjoyed our super up close seats. Thanks Sister Parmley!
And in case any of you are worried about my rebellious ways of taking pictures, everyone was doing it. Justified.
I am: wound up!

I think: I'm finally understanding my job

Everything in life: is so amazingly spot on perfect

I want: to go running

I have: everything a girl could wish for

I dislike: nothing enough to be able to think of it right now

I miss: Gibson and Max, still!

I fear: failure

I feel: overwhelmed in a way that makes me feel like I want to live every day twice just so I can take it all in.

I hear: that the price of rice in China has gone down much to my amazement in this economy.

I smell: everything! I like to sniff things.

I crave: pumpkin pie

I cry: all.the.time. songs, books, movies, laughing...

I search: for my phone while I hold it in my hand

I wonder: when I'll ever know if I'm selling my house or not

I regret: not selling my house 2 years ago (to second Amy on her regret!)

I wish: on shooting stars and railroad tracks

I love: my Savior, my family, my experiences

I care: sometimes too little, sometimes too much

I always: hope for a happily ever after

I am not: a pessimist

I remember: thinking I knew everything when I was 17

I believe: in Eternal families and second chances

I sing: horribly. But I do it anyway

I don’t always: know where I'm going

I argue: only when I have too

I write: on post-its and they litter my life reminding me where to go, what to look at, why I'm doing something.

I win: sometimes and I love it.

I lose: sleep over the silliest things

I listen: to life around me and enjoy the banter, the love, the every day

I don’t understand: negativism and algebra

I can usually be found: geez, now that's a hard question. Next time I'm in a spot long enough to usually be found in, I'll let you know!

I am happy: so much of the time I have nothing to ever complain about

I tag: Shanlee, Jackie, Ben (ha!) Cara, Heather and anyone else who wants to do it, it was to think about.

"dear diary"

How to make the best first impression:

Show up with a flower.

Pick a restaurant with a live blue grass band and bbq. Fantastic!

good conversation and lots of laughs. Humor is pretty much a deal breaker and this date had me laughing from beginning to end.

steamers and a fun walk around downtown

off Broadway stand up comedy. Charming our neighbors {and me} with your funny sense of humor.

"Bearded M" has set the bar for first dates. Let's hope he comes around to set the standard for second dates.

glorious grey friday

What kind of nature do you have in your backyard? I found a grasshopper today and counted myself lucky.

Nick Adams has a resident owl. OK. He is the lucky one. I was just trying to curb my envy.

You should check out this link.

I told him I was envious of the pellets he was finding on his sidewalk. Since Mrs. Taylor's 4th grade science class I have really wanted to try and put one of the tiny mashed up skeletons back together.


So he posted pictures of the pellets for me. Pretty dang cool and you know the pictures are going to be awesome since he is Nick Adams.

First time visiting his fotoblog? Shame on you. Now you really need to go!

story problems

It's been a very enjoyable day in a hazy way. There is a fine line between too tired and just tired enough to float along and enjoy the vagueness that comes with it and after 3 hours of sleep last night I find myself in the latter group.

I presented my space planning project and said 'good riddance' and have a weekend to catch up on my other classes before starting on the next behemoth. I love homework.

Walking to my car to go to work I stepped over this little yellow leaf and hesitated, watching it and thinking about putting it in my pocket because it looked 'lonely'.

As I drove to class after work I watched for my favorite landmarks along the way.

I'm loving cranes as of late. I'd like to operate one sometime.

I think it's a sign that I've reached my silliest when I start doing math problems for fun. I don't do math for fun. But I really HAD to find out how many golf clubs I cleaned in my 4 years at the golf course and I get out the calculator to curb my curiosity.

Say I worked on average 4 days a week. There were 76 carts and if we were at capacity that meant I would hop on the back of at least 36 of those carts to clean clubs, there are two sets of clubs to a cart so that would mean maybe 20 clubs a cart give or take.

How many clubs did I clean in 4 years? OK, Amy will call me on this. Not always were we slammed, nor could we clean every club, and not every day did we care to try for every tip that came our way and cleaned maybe 4 of the dirtiest clubs before slamming them into their trunk and sped away on our golf carts....

So the real question would be, how many clubs did I have the potential of cleaning?

3,717,120

Woah.

OK then. That is a lot of golf clubs.

Goooooodnight moon. (the last picture was of the moon but my camera still hates dusk so pretend you can see a barely there sliver of a moon. It was beautiful.)