28 September 12

After work, I walked to Ukrainian Village on Denman for Steph's birthday dinner of beer, borscht, and perogies.

27 September 12

iphone alley self-portrait.

26 September 12

Jeff and I went to Metrotown and when we parked in the underground lot we noticed Sarah's car was in the space behind us! Small odds considering the size of the place.

25 September 12

words of wisdom on a bathroom door.

24 September 12

Just in case you were ever curious what the recording/scoring process looks like for a cookoff.

23 September 12

Cookoff day! The theme was salad, and it was both better than the original salad-off because no one had any allergic reactions, and better than the previous two cookoffs because it had more than three competitors. It was a lovely evening, still felt a little like summer... at least until the sun went down.
As always, check out the cookoff blog to see the entries and who won!

22 September 12

I reluctantly attended my ten-year high school reunion (mostly because friends of mine had organised it and I would've felt guilty otherwise). But it was all right; as much as I hate small talk I enjoyed catching up with the people whom I was genuinely interested in finding out about. I didn't win the wine draw, sadly, but I still had a good time.

Above is Melanie, a friend of mine from grade eight right up to graduation. I let her pierce my navel with a sewing needle when we were 15. We were double-cast in both our Acting 12 productions, which made costume-sharing fun since her breasts were much larger than mine. She was my first girl-kiss.
Shortly after I moved to Omaha she moved up north with her children and husband, so this was the first time I'd seen her since the summer of 2002.

21 September 12

I met Jeff at work and we picked up some beer and then headed over to Ray & Lauren's for Lauren's birthday party. There was beer pong. We talked about space. I met a cute girl. We left early because Jeff had to work the next morning and I am awkward.

20 September 12

fuck life.

19 September 12

18 September 12

We hosted a wine-laden barbecue to enjoy the last gasp of summer and help other participants of the wine trip drink some of their many purchases. I made a green salad and a watermelon, basil & feta salad; Jeff made potatoes and grilled veggie burgers, chicken, & fish; others brought along dips and breads and desserts. We ate out back in the dark, and it was a lovely warm evening... we only came inside at 10pm because we didn't want to enrage the neighbours with our loud, drunken chatter.

17 September 12

chocolate mint pocky. no effort to take a decent photo.

16 September 12

Laryssa returned home with a sprained ankle after a long summer journey across the country. I went over to her place to make food and drink homebrew. We made hummus, miso gravy, rosemary sea salt pretzels, and dragon bowls. I brought Amanda a pretzel and some gravy at work and she was ecstatic. Lars and I played Scrabble on the balcony and ate out there until it got cold.

15 September 12

It was Sarah's birthday so we went for a delicious dinner at Chai Lounge on Main Street. I wore my outlet-purchased DKNY dress even though it was a little bit cold after the sun went down.

14 September 12

terrible iphone self-shot in bed. I don't know why the resolution is so low.

13 September 12

12 September 12

Jeff and I went out to dinner at Nuba, the one on Broadway where Malloreigh works. It was our first time there and oh man was it delicious (and had the added bonus of brief chats with Mal throughout our meal). We ate until we almost died and I still had enough to take home for lunch the next day. Plus we couldn't say no to baklava for dessert. The sun was setting on our way home and I snapped this while going east over the Georgia viaduct.

11 September 12

Jeff made steaks for dinner, and Jesse provided these for dessert.

10 September 12

Always makes me think of that Clone High episode with the knork: "Why does my mouth keep getting cut up?!"

09 September 12

herb & chive tofu cream cheese, tomatoes, home-grown lettuces, cucumber, broccoli sprouts, roasted garlic hummus, avocado.

08 September 12

A friend of Liang's just broke up with her partner of many years, so we took her out for a night of drinks at the Railway Club. I'd never heard the bands before, but it was pretty good actually. And I just like the Railway Club in general.
This little drawing was in one of the bathroom stalls.

07 September 12

the Muddy Waters record Jeff gave me on our anniversary.

06 September 12

naked bedtime guitar playing.

05 September 12

Our flight out wasn't until 6, so we checked our luggage and spent the afternoon drinking beers by the pool. It was sad to say goodbye to Alice, but less sad than it could have been since we knew she'd be home for Thanksgiving. We ate Mexican food at the airport and got to our gate right at boarding time. The flight back to Seattle was actually smooth and decent, and it's always less anxiety-inducing not to have to change planes. My mom and I rented one of those digiplayer things and watched a couple of movies, which made the time go by a lot faster.

04 September 12

Our last day in the parks was spent at the Magic Kingdom. I shot a roll of film (some of the shots can be viewed here) and ate tiny corn dogs, and got the song from the Carousel of Progress stuck in my head. We went to a place in the Polynesian resort for dinner, some kind of joint where instead of ordering a meal they just bring crazy foods to your table until you say 'omg please stop I can't eat any more meats on a stick'. Afterwards we went back to the park for one last ride (okay, two) on Big Thunder Mountain before watching the fireworks. I'm not really one to get pumped for fireworks, but after seeing them in Disney World, it's easy to see how you can look at them elsewhere and go, 'meh'.

03 September 12

A fairly lazy day at Epcot, followed by an epic dinner at Le Cellier, where almost everyone ordered the filet mignon. I was excited to see that they had a Unibroue sampler, so I had one (even though I've already tried them all at home). Alice and Josh tried to persuade me to come to the bar with them and Alice's coworkers, but after we got back to the hotel I was very full and tired. Plus, you know, social awkwardness in a strange place and all...
There are a few more photos from this day here.

02 September 12

Back at Hollywood Studios, eating giant hot dogs. Afterwards we watched the Beauty and the Beast live-action show, which made me teary because it was my favourite movie as a kid (along with Fantasia). Later we saw a really interesting/cool show about stunt drivers, and eventually went to the New York-style Italian restaurant for our dinner reservation. It's funny, we were least excited about this restaurant but it was outrageously good, and our waiter was pure Brooklyn. We stayed late to watch Fantasmic, and actually managed to catch a bus back to the hotel (we'd been really lazy and had been taking cabs from places the past few days).
A couple more photos from this day here.

01 September 12

We spent the day at the outlet mall and I got myself a DKNY dress for $40, a Banana Republic sweater for the same, and a leather purse for $35. Afterwards we went to Downtown Disney again for our dinner at the Cuban restaurant Bongos. It was delicious with a nice view of the lake from the patio, and our waitress was the most adorable person ever. Poor Kenny missed it though, he had a migraine and had to go back to the hotel.

31 August 12

We spent the morning lounging by the pool, the afternoon wandering around Downtown Disney, and then went to the Boardwalk for dinner at Kouzzina, a Greek place with a celebrity chef. It was an absolutely lovely experience and we all got nicely sauced (and continued upon our return to the hotel).
A handful more photos from this day are here.

30 August 12

We spent the day sweating our asses off and looking at beautiful animals at Animal Kingdom. We also got to ride the dinosaur ride twice in a row without even having to go through the lineup again! And everyone made stupid faces on the Everest roller coaster, you know, the usual. Afterwards we gorged ourselves at the buffet at Boma, where I could have easily made a meal of just soups and salads.
A whole bunch more photos from this day are here.