Category Archives: Out on the town

by

Lay your women at my feet…

I wanted to make sure I didn’t go an entire month without blogging again. A few things that have worked out in my favor and a few cosmically balancing things that have worked against me:

1) I took my personal laptop to Olympia and realized that even though the hotel has a high speed ethernet connection, my laptop is old enough that my ethernet port was a card I removed when I went wireless. Argh.
2) By the end of the week I decided to turn on my laptop anyway and see if I had any music in my ITunes to listen to. Ding ding ding: “Wireless Network Detected.” The hotel turned out to ALSO have unadvertised wireless and I was surfing within seconds. If only I’d tried earlier in the week.
3) I came home Thursday night for XGym and Book Club only to discover my desktop computer won’t work. HELP! Last thing I remember my windows update was telling me I needed to install something that they encouraged I back up my hard drive for and I said, “No, thank you. I’ll consider installing you later, but I do not have time for silly back ups.” Now my computer comes to a screen that tells me I am missing a file in my system folder is missing or something and that I need the XP install disk (which is in the boat barn in Oak Harbor). Man, I sound computer illiterate, but I swear everything I’ve researched online does not make this sound like an easy process. Anyone else getting crap out there? Did anyone else get that Windows XP update that said to backup your files? Did you do the install? Now I’m nervous to install it or not install it on my laptop. Argh.

I guess there is not much else working for or against me. EXCEPT…

As a follow-up to my previous entry, I had another opportunity to listen to music out and about in Olympia. Do you remember my new love for Mirah, an adorable musician who was crouched at my feet picking through the vegan treats outside the Homo-a-GoGo concert she was playing? Jay noticed she was playing another show in the basement of the ABC house, which is essentially a big house that some musicians live in and use the basement to host shows.

We ventured out on Monday in search of the house and ran into some familiar faces from the last show there. One face belonging to Alex, who plays the accordion with Mirah. He was with a friend of his and it felt nice to already recognize people and be recognized (KB, you know our normal plight where people don’t remember us but we remember them). The four of us squatted in the back yard of the house while we waited for the show to start at the standard show starting time, two hours after the posted start time.

The back yard was so impressive it could have held two more houses on it. I sat mesmerized by the tree that reached over to cover the entire area, which in turn sparked a conversation about roots and such. I learned from Alex’s friend that if you need to cut the root of a tree or move a tree, there is a specific ratio or percentage of root that needs to be preserved in order for the tree to survive. I don’t know if what he said was true and I don’t remember what the percentage was, but it did cause me to ponder if this were similar to the quality of life a person could maintain based on the number of toes/fingers/limbs one loses.

The same guy said he had planned on donning a dog suit and diving into the Indigo Girls concert we had attended, but he had chickened out. We said he would only have to fear the wrath of the crowd if he dressed as a Frat boy and did a stage dive. Both Jay and I were extremely disappointed that he hadn’t followed through on the dog costume idea and encouraged him to follow through next time.

As the show finally started and we headed into the basement, I noticed a pair of sandals at the edge of the grass. Now, I’m not a shoe or clothes horse by any means and don’t usually notice things like this, so I giggled to myself when I gazed a bit too long at them thinking, “Wow, I really like these shoes.” It was everything in my power not to slip my toes inside. I was seriously surprised at my desire to wear these sandals.

Bored yet? Jay and I leaned up against a wall close to the front and proceeded to listen to the following:
-one less than adequate band named “Touchdown Eagle”
-a cute duo with potential named “Chubby Bunny”
-an old bandmate/friend of Jay’s with the wonderful name of Katy who was later accompanied by Cynthia Nelson
-Cynthia then followed Katy solo style

Katy was entertaining because she can’t help but be funny to listen to, not to mention she is a talented guitarist. Cynthia was obviously more polished than some of the others that came before, so I’m still not sure why I didn’t buy her cd.

During “Touchdown Eagle” though, I saw a hand reach out and set a pair of shoes down and then the girl attached to the hand crouched down at my feet. The shoes were the very same sandals I had admired before. And the girl? Mirah. I froze. Jay poked my back. I titled my head up and grinned giddily. For the rest of the show, until she came on, I couldn’t stop staring at the side of her tilted head resting in her hand as she held one finger in her ear to soften the sound.

She eventually got up, I presume to gather herself before she performed. Before she went on, Jay and I went outside to get fresh air only to be greeted by the biggest Dog costume I’ve ever seen outside of Disneyland. Alex’s friend had apparently brought it with him and after hearing our disappointment over the lack of dog diving at the Indigo Girls show, he decided to put it on. I couldn’t stop playing with his ears and hugging him. Made me think of Furries, those people that like to have sex while wearing animal costumes, so I tried to tone down my affection. Then I grabbed the cat that had been hanging with us and handed it to the giant Fido. The cat didn’t even seem to mind and I wish I could have taken a picture.

We could hear the next act setting up, so we headed back down and settled into a couch close to the front. When Mirah finally went on, all I could think was how fortunate I felt to have what felt like a private Mirah show in the coziness of the basement.

Saturday night Jay and I are going to see Mirah play at Yeah! Fest! and I am sure now that she is drawn to me, unbeknownst to her. Perhaps next week I’ll tell one more story of how she crouched at my feet, only this time she’ll look up and see me and the rest will be told in my autobiography. You just wait and see.

Unless my true destiny is to fall for the guy in the dog costume, in which case instead of buying my book you’ll just see me on HBO.

by

And this isn’t even all of it

Olympia, WA

Turns out Olympia is not too shabby. The downtown is reminiscent of San Luis Obispo or parts of Portland. There is a lot going on and great food (which is always key to me liking a town) and I’ve already done more in the last two weeks here than I sometimes do at home in Seattle.

The first week I was here I immediately nestled into my hotel room like an old familiar bathrobe. The only difference is that this time I took advantage of the pool and hot tub. When I was on the road before, there were always too many kids or I was alone and didn’t like hanging out with a bunch of strange businessmen by myself. After some “martinis” (in quotes since it was really just expensive vodka shaken over ice and given a twist of lemon) a few of my co-workers and I enjoyed a dip in the hot tub, followed by an improv game of pool baseball.

Later in the week Jay took me out on the town to listen to some bands. When walking around Oly at night waiting for his friend’s band to play, I was amazed at how many people were out and about and how welcoming everyone was. We wandered into the basement of a house and listened to an off-the-wall group (possibly former drama kids) play a few songs and no one looked at us like, “who the hell are you and what are you doing here.” Especially since I’m starting to feel more and more like an old yuppy. I hate that.

If that wasn’t enough after work activity, the next night we went to Homo A GoGo. We had tickets to see the Indigo Girls (who were amazing as always) but the highlight of the night for me was hearing Mirah play. Jay and Matina introduced me to her music and I can’t get enough of her. I have quite the crush. She is the cutest little thing with a voice that sounds almost like the lead singer of Frente! and she writes and plays with a unique and mesmerizing style. I was hooked instantly and tickled later when I caught sight of her up on the side of the stage during the Indigo Girls just in time to watch her throw her bra at them. She was so discreet about taking it off, you could hardly think of it as scandalous. It was more adorable, if anything.

Later when we wandered out of the concert over to Jay’s friend Josh who was selling Vegan treats to post-concert appetites, I noticed Mirah crouched down in front of the bin of Zucchini wraps and Marionberry Tarts. While Jay talked to Josh about his new vegan cookbook called, “Something Delicious This Way Comes,” I fidgeted excitedly trying to get Jay’s attention so I could point out that the most amazing woman in the world was practically sitting on his feet. But being that he’s 6’6″ with shoes on, he never noticed her. As she grabbed her food and stood up to walk away, I mustered up a wimpy “Great show” and she replied in the sweetest voice, with a dimpled smile, “Thank you.” It was heaven. I’ll have to tell Matina all about it.

The Indigo Girls had a raffle for someone to sing on stage with them. I bought five tickets and didn’t win, but the entire build up to it had me wavering back and forth between hope and fear that I might win. The girl who won did a great job singing “Closer to Fine” with them because you could tell she was just happy to be up there. I have to say though, I was wearing an almost identical outfit to both Amy and Emily, so I think I would have looked great up there with my jeans and T-shirt that had Elmo on the front and “Tickles Wanted” on the back. I even imagined that if I won, they would read my t-shirt and tickle me and I could say I was tickled by Amy and Emily, so bow before me, if you must.

Homo A GoGo is sponsored by the Gender Variant Health Project (GVHP). Check out the site for more info. It was an amazing event and I wish I could have participated in more activities. So that was just my first week in Oly. This is the start of week three of eight. But don’t think I’m done yet. On to a recap of Week Two.

Last week I headed home on Tuesday night in order to go to my XGym on Wednesday. I got to see RAR and Jenna over dinner at Bizarro which is a great Italian restaurant near Greenlake. I highly recommend it. RAR and I looked through our Europe journal and reminisced then I wandered off around midnight to wake up Aaron, who had rolled into Seattle earlier that day. We stayed up talking until 2am, so needless to say, XGym hurt at 6:45am and driving to Oly after that was near dangerous. Still worth it though.

Back in Oly, we went bowling after work and then Jay and I went on a search for some quick Vegan food, which is terribly hard to do when you’re tired and you want something fast. We ended up at Japanese, which was delicious. Thank god this isn’t Iowa.

Can you believe I didn’t blog all this time? I’m only halfway through what I’ve been up to! I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics with another co-worker, Burnsey, and proceeded to be made fun of for being a fabric buying virgin. When Burnsey realized I’d never purchased fabric before, she immediately called Jay (who single-handedly supports most fabric stores) and they laughed together when I walked up sheepishly holding a ream of cloth asking if I was allowed to touch it or if I was supposed to leave it on the shelf and get help. We made a box for Maria’s wedding so people could put donations to Act of Giving in it, but my only real role in the process was to refill Burnsey and Jay’s cups with Whiskey while they glued and ironed the fabric on. Okay, maybe I painted the box, but you hardly see that part anyway.

In the end, I felt more useful with the glue and ribbon once I realized Jay was no longer able to keep a straight line of glue going. I’m quite the bartender.

On Friday, the night before the wedding, I went to dinner with Aaron and Chris, then met up with Leah. I was hyper and talkative in the beginning, but quickly crashed after a long week. Went home around 11:30 and slept hard.

Maria’s wedding was beautiful. The drive up to Vancouver on Saturday was hot and muggy and the day continued that way. The wait at the border was insane and neither Jay nor I had really planned for that. But we showed up in time for some Tofu dogs and then the baby dedication started. Baby Brennan is a doll and the wedding ceremony that followed was equally touching. With Maria and Sharon dancing into the room and sharing their love with everyone, there was hardly a dry eye. At least, mine weren’t dry. I felt fortunate to be a part of it and as Michelle said at the wedding, we look with love and awe at Maria and Sharon and the family they have created wondering how can anyone say that could be wrong. That is a family I want to be a part of and you could tell everyone in the room felt the same way.

After the wedding, Jay and I stayed with some friends of his, Jen and Andy, who had the most adorable 3-year-old named Sam (Second of course to Maria and Sharon’s son Aidan). It was so relaxing to sit with them and listen to their new CD they are about to release and watch Jen paint. Just the way I would want to spend all my weekends. I learned that 3-year-olds say the darndest things and now that Sam has learned about his privates he loves to giggle and say, “I’m going to throw my balls to Makela!” Makela is his best friend, and one day I imagine she will set Sam straight about what he should do with his balls. Until then, he might just be the brightest 3-year-old I know.

As his dad was leaving for work, he ran over to him, gave him a hug and whispered, “I love you Dad. You’re the best Dad ever.” Now how freaking precious is that. Almost makes my clock start ticking.

by

Art in the Afternoon…and the morning…and the evening…well, all day in fact.

Seattle, WA

To all my former co-workers
(and anyone interested in art and coffee shops):

I ran into Susan Elek the other day whom some of you may remember from the Foundation. She left before a lot of us because she wanted to pursue her art. I was excited to see her because I wanted to find out how post-foundation life has been for her.

I was pleased to hear she is having an art showing this month! You can view her paintings at Caffe Ladro in Lower Queen Anne on the SE corner of Roy St. and Queen Anne North. The paintings will be up until the end of January, so try and sneak a peak while you can! Bring your friends and family as well.

Caffe Ladro
600 Queen Anne Ave. North
Seattle, WA
Open: 5:30am – 11pm every day.

One of the things I always valued about our former place of employment and the people we worked with was how supportive we were of each other. Whether it was sponsoring someone for a health run or taking dinner to a sick co-worker, we really seemed to be an extension of each other’s lives and a source of encouragement for their aspirations. Even if we didn’t know each other very well, we still found time to show an interest.

I think a lot of us have benefited from this “family” that was created through all the positive support. Let’s show Susan the same support, especially in this post-foundation time. Besides, nothing beats a good cappuccino on a cold day in a cozy coffee shop.

by

Productive Weekend

A big thanks to Kris for teaching me and helping me with my Movable Type switch. I have completed all I need to get my entries in categories and my archives working. I am at peace.

We had such a great time this weekend. Stayed up so late working on my blog (I’m more of a perfectionist than I ever knew). We also saw so much of Milwaukee and fell in love with it. Kris already talked about that.

Here are some pics from a great time. My rental car I’m standing next was fondly referred to as the Jawbreaker this trip because it is so tiny and so bright, just like a piece of candy. Made me smile every time I saw it.

by

Jazz in Da Park

Milwaukee, WI

Last night David (from London), Steve, Jim, and I went to Jazz in the Park in Milwaukee. It was amazing. We had some wine, some beer, some sushi. Well, I had sushi and they had sandwiches. Then David and I walked around Milwaukee a bit while Steve and Jim went running. The fools. Apparently running after a few beers is the proper and only way to do it. If I had known this sooner I would have been running all along.

Here are some pics from my days here in Wisconsin so far.

David and I forgot glasses�no need Clark Kent was always cuter than Superman Milwaukee at night What could be better than drinking in the park?

by

Talking to Strangers

Racine, WI

What a crazy couple of days. For those who know me best, we would all agree that I’m not shy, but I also don’t meet people on the road very often. I tend to sleep on the plane, therefore avoiding having to get trapped into conversation with a potential adulterer posing as an uber-Christian who then buys me the Left Behind book (this has happened). I also love the time of day when I go back to the hotel, usually with takeout in hand, settle against my headboard with my laptop and dinner and usually a terrible in room movie to keep me company. Thus, smiling, greeting, and any general “what’s your story, this is mine” kind of interaction is kept to a minimum. Just the way I like it. Or so I thought.

On Tuesday afternoon I decided that hanging out in the Wausau hotel with nothing to do was not going to hack it. I convinced the hotel to let me check out without a charge (it was 3pm in the afternoon) and I headed towards the Marriott in Racine enjoying the long drive and my book on CD that Leah lent me called Kitchen Confidential. Great book. I highly recommend it. Calling ahead, I begged the Marriott to let me check in a day early. As luck would have it, all they could put me in was their biggest suite. Finally, things are working in my favor.

According to Steve, this was going to be a great Marriott because it had a concierge level. I would say it is an old Marriott with a stale stank to it that makes my eyes tear up, but they do have a concierge level, which translates to free food and beverages, with alcohol to purchase. I decided I deserved a little hot tea and a glass of red wine (strange combination, but god I love the two). Upon entering the room, there were two gentlemen talking on the couch. The concierge was schmoozing it up with them and shamelessly showing them her glamour shots. I was going to take my goods and head back to my room, but the gentlemen seemed fairly approachable and interesting. One was gesticulating wildly about being a Master Colorist and Hair Stylist and I figured I’d settle in and eavesdrop.

Turned out to be a great idea; I ended up hitting it off with them. The hair guy, Lenny, was traveling for work, training stylists on how to properly color/highlight people’s hair with his product. He works for a big company that owns products even I am familiar with (and you know I have little or no knowledge of hair). The other gentleman, David, was originally from London {insert moan of passion over his accent here} but was now moving to Racine to work as an IT programmer of sorts for another big company. Long of the short of it, Lenny asked us to be hair models for him the next day and we accepted. My hair getting dangerously close to my butt and the highlights grown out below my ear, I was both embarrassed and anxious to get it fixed. Especially by someone who pretty much has his PhD in hair. 🙂

After sharing many glasses of wine, the three of us decided it was time to check out the bar scene and grab some food. We stayed out until almost 3am, enjoying the local gay bar where they helped us order some Italian delivery (can you believe I was able to find some non-pizza delivery after 11pm at night)? The next day we dragged ourselves out of bed for a day of beauty at the local salon. I felt like a princess. Everyone petting my hair, discussing how to make it seem more vibrant, less fine, and less frizzy…okay, maybe I felt a little picked over, but it was amazing.

We followed it up with another night of good food and wine, and then I worked their brains a little too hard with yes/no puzzles. Ah, the good life of meeting people. Tonight I might head up to Milwaukee for Jazz in the Park with David.

Moral of this story? When you have a good feeling about people, say hi. You could have great company and free hair styling for the rest of your trip.

The one thing people may be upset to hear is that I gave Lenny complete license with my hair and he cut off about 5 inches. No more long luxurious hair. But let’s face it, the hair was starting to get pretty nasty.

Better late than never. Here’s Lenny! He’ll hate me for showing the picture I took after a long night of wild dancing. At least it’s small.

Love your hair, hope you win!

by

Boston Debauchery

Boston, MA

Since Kris managed to post in the midst of chaotic weekend deabauchery, I decided I best throw some pics up here. Damn right. Since I only ate the vegetarian insides of my sandwich for lunch on Friday and then proceeded to skip dinner and go straight to the beer, I found myself pathetically drunk after only two beers and two vodka/crans. But everyone will vouche for me that those were some mighty strong vodka/crans.

How we see Kris most of the time.

well into the evening

by

Spinning Matrix

Lincoln, Nebraska

I can’t believe how many amazingly supportive comments I got from all of you about my running. I think it might be enough to convince me to do it again. Except Aaron’s comments about running with a beer in one hand sounds kind of fun and challenging. I can see myself concentrating, “Come on Katie…don’t spill…don’t spill…don’t spill. Okay, now take a big swig! Way to go!”

With this much input you might all be wondering if I went running again last night or if my prophecy of sitting on my bed with a bag chips came true. The answer is neither. I ended up going for dinner and drinks with Steve and Todd. Drank way too much and then stumbled my way with them over to the new Matrix movie. Let me just say, don’t ever try and watch an action packed, fast paced, people flying everywhere kind of movie when you are sloshed. I had to go to the bathroom twice in fear of losing it and eventually I moved away from the boys into a row all my own so I could stretch out and stop the spinning. They looked at me sort of funny. I think they thought I was repulsed by them. 🙂 I was just getting a bit claustrophobic in the middle of all the people. 🙂

I’m such a ninny. But regardless of the fact I was close to losing my amazing dinner we had eaten earlier, I stilled really enjoyed The Matrix.

WARNING: SLIGHT OPINIONATED MATRIX SPOILER TO FOLLOW (very slight)

My only observation and I’m not sure how I felt about this was that the Matrix was focused more on sex and love this time. Which was both sexually frustrating when you end up having to go back to your hotel room alone, and exciting because well let’s face it, there are a lot of attractive bodies in The Matrix. I have more to say about the movie, but I’ll wait until more people have seen it.

That’s all for now.

by

Burning Knees

Lincoln, Nebraska

Just got in tonight. Went to dinner with Steve and Todd at a Cajun restaurant and the highlight was the Bananas Foster. Neither Steve nor I had ever had it. Delicious!

But then I came back to the hotel and realized there were far too many mirrors in here. That might be nice when you have a little lover to play around with, but instead I kept catching my reflection and thinking, “Who let that fat girl in my room?”

Needless to say I threw my sneakers on and went running. I didn’t get very far and my lungs felt like they were on fire. Actually, it’s been two hours since I ran and my lungs still feel like they were ripped to shreads. Kris Bell once told me that if I decided to start running I could work myself into it and eventually it wouldn’t hurt as badly, but it’s hard to have faith. 🙁

Sometimes I understand why people have the fat sucked out of them. I would never do it, but I understand the desperation and especially the laziness. Laziness being the key word. It’s strange how I go about my days thinking I look about 120lbs. and then I see my reflection all of the sudden and am still shocked that I’m no longer that small. Is this the epiphany you were talking about Kris? You said it just hit you one night. Could this be my night where I really start doing something?

Knowning me, it will pass. I’ll be sitting on my bed eating chips this time tomorrow night.

by

The Zoo…not the bar…

Seattle, Washington

What a beautiful week to be home. My god. It was so nice I even went to the zoo with my sister Marie, my great friend Tonja, and her boyfriend Piet. The animals all seem to get busy around the same time because there were a lot of babies to be seen. I’m talking about both the caged animals and the human animals. But I guess since the gestation period is probably different for each animal, maybe there was a memo about when to have their young. We saw two baby tigers, three baby gorillas, and a baby elephant! I loved it. The gorillas were my favorite.

gotta love him...

Me after I lose my job.