Road Trippin' Seattle Summer

The Crack of Dawn // Coffee at Corner Stone // PDX Love // Portland Roses

I suppose I should pick up where I left off – with Seattle! Emerald City Comic Con has come and gone; Eric and I had a blast. But that was in March. Just a few days ago I returned from another trip to Seattle, this time with my sister. In the wee hours of the morning we piled into her car and hit the road.

The sun may have been coming up, but nothing was open. So we drove. And drove. We drove over the mountain. We drove so far from everything that the closest coffee shop was an hour away going in the opposite direction, on another route. Shortly after pulling off the side of the road and finding what was in fact a shack and not an eatery, we stumbled upon a mountain town called Dunsmuir. It was very Twin Peaks. If you are ever driving up the I-5, Corner Stone bakery and café is where it’s at. Seriously. Best omelet I’ve ever eaten. A few hours in later we were in Portland. After procuring some much needed espresso drinks, we embarked on our final stretch. We hit some gnarly traffic between Portland and Seattle, but otherwise – made perfect time. With three stops the drive took only thirteen hours.

Breakfast over the Seattle Times // Tacoma Totem Poll // View from Kerry Park // DICK'S

Seattle itself was a blast – as always. We had lots of quality family time, and I had a chance to enjoy lunch with one of my dear friends who had moved to the area last autumn. We honestly couldn’t have asked for better hosts. Monday highlights: the Seattle Center, Pacific Science Center, and neighborhood tours of Queen Anne, Fremont and the U District and DICK’S. Tuesday highlights: Daily Dozen donuts at Pike Place market, riding the Monorail, Bill and Melinda Gates Visitor Center, Comic Stop, U District thrifting and family dinner. Oh yeah, and Ancient Aliens. It was so hard to pile back into the car the next morning. The only consolation is that Eric and I have officially decided to move there! There are a few things we need to finish up around the Bay Area first, but it is happening and I cannot wait.

With that in mind, Emily and I were on the road again. We were making excellent time until I-5 caught on fire. Yes. I-5 and several surrounding towns in the Shasta area were on fire. As such, the interstate was CLOSED. Thankfully the alternate route around Shasta National Forest was open, but it was a one-lane mountain road that just happened to be being repaved that day. The detour ended up adding three hours to our trip. Needless to say, tension was thick. I love my sister, and it has been such a joy to build our relationship as grown women, but we’re still very different people, who handle stress very differently. At one point traffic was dead still on the mountain. Engines off, safety breaks on. I asked her to pop the trunk, and I broke out our books, and all was well in the world. We brought back together by our love of literature and fart jokes. True story. Emily was home before midnight, and I was in my very own bed less than an hour later.

As awed as I was by the stunning mountain vistas and the incredible small town omelets up on the I-5, I don’t think I’ll be making the drive up to Seattle again any time soon. Summer has gone by so fast; I’m going to soak up what’s left of it here in the Bay Area before it’s back to school and sweater weather.

Photo an Hour: Muir Woods

Last weekend Eric and I went to Muir Woods National Monument, so I decided to give the whole “Photo an Hour” thing a go.

8 AM: We woke up bright an early and made ourselves a picnic lunch. These are our tasty TIE Fighter and Millennium Falcon sandwiches, bagged and ready to go. Not pictured: tangerines, and spinach, blackberry and walnut salad.



9 AM: On the road! This was my point of view as we drove through Marin.



10AM: We arrived shortly before 10 and managed to get one of the remaining three parking spots at the park. Yikes. We spent our first hour at the Visitor Center, exploring the areas around the boardwalk (the area where you’re able to walk in the Monument) and the undergrowth before crossing Bridge 2 and heading up one of the more mild trails.



11AM: We reached the bottom of Ben Johnson trail, which is a beautiful hike, leading to the stupidly steep DipSea trail that leads to Stinson Beach.



12PM: As we hiked along the Ben Johnson I made a concerted effort to cram myself into every burnt out tree we found. Here I am crawling out from under one of the famed giant Redwoods.


1PM: After much sweating, we emerged from the woods on top of Mount Tamalpais! This was our view from Coastal View Trail. We hiked down some of the foothills surrounding the mountain and enjoyed our picnic lunch in the sun.



2PM: Back into the woods.



3PM: The best sit of my life. One of my feet cramped up on our way back down and I was beat. I just wanted to kick off my hiking boots and put my feet in the cold stream water below this bridge. But I didn’t. No sense in destroying the integrity of our natural treasures for future generations just for my own personal relief, right?



4PM: Back at the Visitor Center Eric was filled with glee when he found his favorite souvenir, a flattened penny-maker.

We had a wonderful time at Muir Woods. Neither Eric nor I had been since we were children and it was so wonderful to rediscover this quiet, beautiful place together. Next time we hope to make it all the way to Stinson Beach!

Photo Diary: Mountain View Cemetery

By some miracle I finished all of my final papers AND my final project a whole twenty-four hours before they were due this quarter. With a free day all to myself with no papers to write or projects to complete, I decided to go for a stroll through Mountain View Cemetery because spring has sprung here in Oakland and it is beautiful.

The second photo is an outfit test shot; I had every intention of documenting what I wore, but right after I snapped this test, I realized there was an old man staring at me. Just staring. I got spooked and scampered off; I may just be too self-conscious for this whole “What I Wore Today” business. Regardless of my silly encounter, I enjoyed the rest of my afternoon in the sun.

We're Engaged!

Now that my father has given us his official blessing and all of our family knows, I’m excited to share that Eric and I got engaged! See the dark/blurry photobooth snapshot taken the night of for evidence of our excitement.

Over Christmas, one of my very dear friends got engaged. Shortly after sharing the news, she filled us in on the where and when. A 2014 spring wedding in the beautiful British countryside. I would never miss her wedding (or a chance to travel abroad, for that matter), so I started making plans.

Eric and I had been discussing the possibility of getting married more seriously. Marriage is something we have spoken about candidly since the beginning of our relationship, so this was nothing new. It was something we had always wanted, but hadn’t been ready for until recently. Attending H&S’s wedding was important to me, so I started drafting timelines; one option was that we get married in 2013, have a mini honeymoon shortly afterward and then in the spring of 2014, cross the pond for H&S’s wedding/a European honeymoon. Win/win, right? Eric liked the idea, but we made no official plans, and there was no official ask.

Weeks went by, and there was still no ask. Eric said he was waiting for something special. I was just waiting. One evening, Eric came home with excellent news from work. Too excited to cook, I insisted on taking him out for some celebratory sushi. So, off we went. We got a table, ordered a big beer and started munching edamame beans while we waited for our roles to arrive. We talked about how thrilled we were about this great news, how grateful we were that things were going well, and what we wanted for our future. And then, he asked me to marry him. He didn’t have a ring, so he wrapped one of the edamame beans around my finger and that was that! We were engaged.

A week later, he took my father out for drinks and asked for his blessing. My father gave it willingly, provided that any children  are raised as 49er and Giants fans. Eric agreed and it was official! As we’ve told our family, friends, and made it “Facebook official” I have been astounded by all the love and support we’ve received. I am so grateful that we have so many kind, loving people in our lives, and that I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.

Lazy Sunday

Sunday is the only day of the week that Eric and I both have off from work. As such, it is always my favorite. Sundays mean sleeping in, waffles, adventures around our neighborhood, or anything else we fancy. This week we fancied holing up in our little apartment and watching an absurd amount of Bones. That show is ridiculous and we love it.


When Eric and I were first together, there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t find him drawing something, but when started in his current position last year, he stopped drawing at home entirely. After drawing 8-9 hours a day, art had become a job. Over the past month, Eric has been drawing more and more at home. It’s been a joy to see him rediscovering this part of himself as he makes art for arts sake. As always, it’s incredible to watch him make something out of nothing but a piece of paper and a pencil. We did some drawing together, and my pitiful little doodles were good for a laugh.

Despite the Super Bowl, we had a wonderful football free day (other than a short, sweet recap phone call from Eric’s brother). It could not have been more relaxing. I have major deadlines for both school and work this week, so a lazy Sunday was just what I needed. Now, off to start (and finish!) a paper!

Dr Comics Mr Games

This weekend our favorite local comic book shop, Dr Comics Mr Games, had their first sale of 2012! This little shop is known for its sales; everything other than single issues is 25% off, with a daily special marked at 40% discount. Friday it was back issues, Saturday was games and Sunday was toys and figures! Dr Comics Mr Games has always been one of my favorite comic book shops; the selection is great and the staff is always friendly, knowledgeable, and it’s obvious that they all bathe on a regular basis. A+ on all accounts. By the time we arrived on Sunday afternoon, most of the stock had been picked over and the shop was surprisingly quiet. The normal Sunday crowd was just leisurely browsing the stacks, so Eric and I happily did the same.

I nabbed WonderWoman #5, and Eric found the newest issue of KickAss 2 and a BPRD trade. After some deliberating, we decided to bring the Umbrella Academy PVC figure set home with us. Despite two toy related posts in one week, we don’t actually make a habit of buying them. 90% of the toys around our little apartment are relics from our childhoods, belonged to Pat, or cost less than $5, so a set of PVC figures was a bit of a splurge. Though I must say, SpaceBoy is looking mighty fine.


Other than our sweet sale find, the weekend was very lowkey and quiet. Eric was sick on Friday, so we missed out on game night with Jess and Richard, which was a major bummer. It’s not often you find friends who are willing and able to sit through three to six hours of solid game play, and the instances when we and said friends are both free and ready to get their Game of Thrones on are sadly few and far between. Bummers aside, there are some very exciting events on the horizon in Beastly land, and I can’t wait to share them in the coming week or two!