Into The Woods! Deer Lake & Sol Duc Hot Springs

I did it! Six months pregnant, and just back from a weekend backpacking trip in the Olympic National Forest! I know a lot of awesome “Northwest Action Figure” type of gals… and I know a lot of others (including me!) who “like to do stuff outside” but don’t exactly come with the same accessories kit. [...]

Just Your Typical Washington Beach Holiday

For most of the last 6 or 7 years, I’ve spent the long Memorial Day weekend at the Washington Coast, thanks to the hospitality of friend’s parents, and their willingness to let a bunch of 20-somethings overrun their beach houses. And of those 6 or 7 years, I think I can recall maybe 2 occasions [...]

@ Emilie says C U in Vegas!

Hey everyone! I just got back from my Ladies Weekend in Las Vegas! Of course I had no time for blogging, but I realized I did end up with a bit of a handy record of the most of the weekend… text messages! Lots to the husband (aren’t I a good wife?), and several between [...]

Snowshoeing!

Fantastic idea for anyone interested…. Winter birthday? Snowshoeing weekend! 10 days my senior, fellow Aquarian Miss A organized a quiet weekend in the Washington mountains for 13. Yes, 13. And alright, I guess it wasn’t all that quiet… wine, guitars, wine, a bunch of actors, artists, wine, and musicians… the Tacoma Crew can be an [...]

Vegas Baby, Vegas!

NOTE: Older post, lost in the shuffle…. re-posted here. *First off, I promise to only say that… maybe once more. But still…. I’m going to Las Vegas in 2 weeks! To see Bette Midler! Eeeeeee! The Divine Miss M has been on my life-list to see in concert for… oh, more than half of my [...]

I’ll Sail Away! In a Year or Two.

The Travel fund has begun! Let it be known: Too many years have passed since the husband or I set foot on foreign shores. 7 years for me and 10 for him. This must be remedied. To that end, a Travel fund! Travel with a capital T and that rhymes with C which stands for [...]

Back to the Mainland

And so we bid them all adieu–the mountains, the surf, the swimmable beaches, the rocky cliffs, the tourist traps, the the bright spiky plants, and HawaiiFamily and the dog. In the next few days, I’ll post some retro-dated bits about the second half of the trip (when I was waaay too relaxed to just get [...]

Island Days: A Change Could Do You Good

Some people are planners when they travel. Others are not. And most of us fall somewhere in the middle, right? What I mean is, there’s no real illustrative value in pitting a list-ticking, clock-watching, map-packing, live-for-”The Plan” person against a late-sleeping, pack-nothing, indecisive/impulsive, let’s-pull-over-here-cause-we-can person. You don’t have to hit the extremes to see yourself [...]

Island Days: Walkin’ the Hood

Out and about in Manoa Valley: Here’s a few little shots of the neighborhood, the husband, HawaiiFamily’s dog, and the local flora. Just around the corner from home. Ignore the telephone pole growing out of the husband’s head and the collision-leaning street sign. Instead, just take note of the obediently stationary puppeh and the gorgeous [...]

Island Days: Hittin’ the Beach & Hidin’ the Burn

Greetings from Oahu! We landed on Sunday and are already two days into a lovely visit with family, ob-nox-iously beautiful (and hot!) weather, and the seemingly requisite second-day sunburn cultivation, maintenance, and futile attempts at concealment. Seriously hot, people. Usually, we visit in January, in the New Year’s rainy season… at that time of year [...]