Francophile in the West

What a great week! Wednesday was my 23rd birthday. Roomie K and Roomie S made me another amazing birthday cake!! This year, it was a couple of hedgehog-shaped German chocolate cakes with almond slivers. They are delicious! I took one of them home to share with my family and am looking forward to eating the other one when I return to Seattle. Thanksgiving was wonderful, definitely one of the best on record. We had 10 people and a newborn hanging out at my folk's house and my mom cooked up the most delicious turkey! The leftovers keep a'coming- on tonight's menu is turkey soup with dumplings (one of my all-time favs). So, all is well. The rainy November weather has definitely set in, but it's still beautiful with all the fall leaves. I can't wait to return to Seattle tomorrow because Kris will be waiting for me at the train station! I'm so glad we'll get to spend the rest of the week together. :)

Roomie K, Roomie A, Roomie K's friend, and I went to Seattle's Beaujolais nouveau wine festival this weekend! Holy cow, what a blast! It was a super-swanky celebration; delicious food and hors d'oeuvres, an actual ice sculpture, and wine for days! All four of us girls decided that the mussels they served were our absolute favorite. We could have easily eaten hundreds of those things. So delicious! I'm really glad we all went. It was a heck of a party and a great excuse for me to pre-celebrate my 23rd birthday. :) Also recently, I had the chance to meet the Husky mascot, Dubs, at work! Admissions had a 'Bring your dog to work' day, and Dubs stopped by Schmitz Hall to say hello. He is such a cutie! He's very well behaved and *loves* to get his picture taken. Last week was excellent and I'm very much looking forward to my birthday and Thanksgiving this next week! I'm always down for having a few days off of work and getting to spend time with my family....

The roomies and I went to the Washington state-shapped corn maze up in Snohomish last weekend with our good friend and her cute family. We had a blast! We braved the maze (and even did the maze scavenger hunt!), picked pumpkins to carve, picked up apple cider, and I took pictures of our friend and her family. It was a great day of celebrating the fall. More stories and photos after this set: Kris was in town for a week! OH man, it was so wonderful to have him here. He really likes the new place I landed in with Roomie A and Roomie K and we had a great time wandering around Seattle taking photos and going out for drinks (on multiple nights! :) ) A couple of pictures from that week: In other news, exactly two years ago, I was in France with Kris enjoying drinks in Old Town Nice and watching the crazy French Halloween celebrations go on around us. I can't wait to get back to Europe!!

Actually, I have travel fever, to be specific. Hooooly crap, do I want to leave the country ASAP. This Tuesday was my three-month-iversary at the UW. Nine more months to go... Don't get me wrong, this is a fantastic job and the people are awesome and I'm even going to be flying off to Arizona for a week to recruit new Huskies, but a work trip to Arizona doesn't quite have the same appeal as going to Germany for Oktoberfest, FINALLY going to Italy and returning to Spain, and then spending the better part of the year hanging out in France. I must keep reminding myself that I'll get there soon! It's not as far away as I think. I'm just jealous because the majority of my good or decent friends from my graduating class at the UW have left for internships, jobs, or youthful play abroad. I'm pouting because I want to go, too!! I'll get there... That said, I can't believe it's pretty much October. What a wild year. A trip to Arizona is coming up, I'l...

I had the best Labor Day long weekend EVER!!! First off, it was amazing to have a three-day weekend, of course. But, I was outside and exploring all sorts of new places, which is always amazing. Roomie K, Roomie S, Roomie S' boyfriend, and I went out to Roomie K's parent's cabin on Lake Cavanaugh and swam, cruised around the lake, and barbequed all day on Saturday. On Sunday, Roomie K and I went backpacking and hit the Park Butte trail in the Mt. Baker National Forest. Hoooooly crap, it was the most amazing hike I've ever been on! It was 3.5 miles at a pretty good grade the whole way; the hike ends at the Park Butte Lookout on the very top of this awesome ridge that's right in front of Mt. Baker at about 5,400 feet. We were the first overnighters at the lookout, so we totally snatched it to stay in! It's a 14' x 14' building with an old rickety bed, some cooking supplies, table & chairs, and a 360-degree catwalk from which you can see Baker, the Casc...

It seems like as soon as a new month starts, every weekend is immediately filled with travels and adventures! June was full of graduation and new job excitement; July was filled with weekend hikes, a wedding, a week of work training in San Diego, and a concert; August has already seen an epic bike trip on Lopez Island and will see a bridal shower, a funeral, more training for work, and a move. Wow! I am loving all the excitement, new places, and time with friends and family. All four of the roomies went on a 25+ mile bike ride around Lopez Island this past Saturday. It was hard work, but it was gorgeous! I had never been to the San Juans before. I would love to check out the other islands now. Check out the pictures below! We all went to the Matisyahu concert at the end of July, which was amazing. He's such an incredible artist: an Orthodox Jewish reggae singer/beatboxer. So awesome! His sound is so unique, it's great. Well, at the end of this month, everyone will b...