A Gorgeous Chunk o' Lavender (and Erin)!

After a healthy dose of sleep on Saturday night, Gen, Bobby, and I woke up and got ready to go watch Erin and Will get hitched. The weather was looking a little gray, but a flash of blue showed up as we drove off of the ferry onto Vashon Island. By the time we got to the lavender farm, the weather was perfect.

At the farm, I meandered around for awhile and found some dear old friends to catch up with. What a gorgeous place to have a celebration with friends.

Strolling around the farm with Hilary. (I had to get nice shoes for the occasion.)

Posing with my old roomie Tammy, who got married the next day!

The wedding itself was just beautiful. Erin Lee and William got married in the orchard - everyone stood during the ceremony and it was really nice. Will got nice and choked up looking at beautiful Erin. After the ceremony there was some chill time involving delicious appetizers and more wandering around the farm. Then Erin and Will came out to the reception and it was great! I was very patient in waiting for my Erin hug. I know the day was supposed to be all about Erin and Will, but I needed an Erin Lee hug!

So much love!

I have to pause from the emphasis on happiness and friends for just a moment to say that the food was absolutely phenomenal. I have never in my life had such good food at a wedding. As I sit here typing, I am literally daydreaming about all of the food. Grilled veggies, roasted veggie ravioli, amazing salad, and so on. Topped off with a dreamy dessert that was so tasty I don't even know how to spell it.

OK, back to the wedding. Erin was beautiful, Will was handsome (and pulled off a fedora like nobody's business), everyone was spilling over with happiness, and it was all in all an awesome day. Plus it was at a lavender farm. How cool.

Workin' the new dress and sweater like it ain't no thang.

First Chunk o' Seattle

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Leaving Trader Joe's

After the basketball tournament, I caught a ride with my sister and her boyfriend down to Seattle. My purpose in visiting Seattle was to attend my dear old roommate Erin's wedding. She got married on an island in the Puget Sound, so I stayed the night with some friends in Seattle.

My hosts weren't home yet when I arrived, so I went for a familiar stroll from Wallingford down into the U-District. I love being a pedestrian in Seattle. There is always something interesting to look at. These are a few pictures of things I saw on my walk.

"Stop Whining" School Bus

The weather was a little dreary and I had packed a (new and awesome) sleeveless dress to wear the next day, so I wandered down to Urban Outfitters to see if I could find a nice button-up sweater to wear with it (are those called cardigans?).

I also hit up Trader Joe's to stock up on treats for my Canadian friends. Chocolate and coffee, mostly. Entirely, actually.

Eventually I made it back up to the place where I was staying and a few minutes after I arrive, Gen and Bobby returned. Yay! We had a nice evening catching up and playing games. We got to bed pretty early - we had a wedding to attend the next day!

Next chunk: Vashon Island!

Next Chunk... Sumas!

After tensely waiting at the gate in Calgary to see if I would get a seat for my flight to Seattle (yeah standby!), I made it onto the plane and to the Emerald City.

First stop: Sumas.

My little brother (who is not as little as he used to be) was hosting a 3-on-3 basketball tournament in Sumas the next day and I had been recruited to monitor/referee one of the courts.

It poured and poured and poured, but it was fun. Until a crazy mom got all up in my grill and started yelling at me after one of the games. (Why does there always have to be a crazy mom?) Crazy mom yelled things like, "If you want to make it in the reffing world, you'd better listen to me," and, "You ruined that child's self-esteem for life." Oh well, she's probably over it by now. Or maybe she is having fun telling all her crazy mom friends about the awful referee at the tournament in Sumas.

I really don't want to make it in the reffing world, by the way. I reffed intramurals for a couple of years at UW and it really is a sucky job. Unless you like to be yelled at by people like crazy mom.

Stay tuned for the next stop: Seattle.

August In Chunks...

Well, chunk one of August is almost done. Zoe is still my favorite dog in the whole world. However, I would never want to live alone with just a dog. I will be glad to live with people again.

But before I tell you about living situations, I get to go to Seattle! I am really hoping that the trip down is not TOO interesting, as I am flying there standby, but I am always up for a little adventure. Last I checked, there were two seats available on the flight I will be attempting to take tonight, so hopefully everyone else in Calgary decides to stay home. Should I start rumors about the plane's mechanical problems when I get to the gate to discourage people from flying? Probably.

Erin, my UW roommate, is getting married on Sunday! On a lavender farm on an island in the Puget Sound. To my future friend-in-law William. (If you are my friend-in-law, it means you married my friend.)

I also get to spend a day with my family and stay with some good friends in Seattle. I'm mostly looking forward to all of the awesome people I get to see this week, but I have to admit I am also very excited about eating yummy food in Seattle. And hopefully hitting up Trader Joe's. Maybe eating some chocolate as well. Maybe? Oh, who am I kidding. Definitely eating some chocolate as well.

As for the rest of August, you will have to wait until we get there and hope that I find time to blog about it.

(Hene, I get bonus points for posting this, OK?)

Whirlwind...

Wow! Is it really August?

It is? Oh good! I've REALLY been looking forward to August.

To start it off, I am dogsitting Zoe, my favorite dog in the whole world. She has a mohawk and likes to cuddle and I love her.

At the end of the week, I get to fly to Seattle to hang out and see one of my best friends get married on a lavender farm on an island in the Puget Sound.

When I get back, I get to pack up my stuff and move into Sam's new townhouse. I can't wait to unpack! I think we will feel like grown-ups playing house. Fun!

A few days after we settle in, another one of my greatest friends is coming to visit for a few days - we get to take a trip up to Red Deer to see a different awesome friend and her lovely new baby.

So much awesome!