Category: Seattle

Rooooooooad Trip!!!

Posted by Sasha – December 10, 2009

Leo and I are now safely in Scottsdale. We arrived around 9 pm Arizona time on Wednesday, after leaving Seattle at 1 pm on Monday. It took a little longer than I’d hoped, but the end result is that I’m here safely, along with my beloved car and beloved dog, who just could not be more excited to see his grandfather. Leo did really well up until about the last four or five hours of the drive, which he spent whining and crying and generally refusing to interact with me. What I did learn: Any fast food restaurant will sell you a single beef patty for fifty cents, and it’s a great way to get back on your dog’s good side. Also, when you’re just looking at (and smelling!) the single beef patty, tearing its greasy, charred mass apart with your fingers so your dog can eat it, you wonder who in their right mind would feed this to humans?

Other highlights:

This trip marked the joyous occasion of me finally getting my much-coveted photo of the highway sign for Weed, California. You have no idea how many accidents I’ve almost caused in the past trying to get that photo. Now its done and everyone can drive through Weed, California knowing full well that no one sharing the road is in any way impaired. Phew.

I really really really liked this mountain. I don’t remember where I saw it, probably somewhere in Washington, but I took like a million pictures of that mountain. It was just very majestic and shit.

Farmers were setting crops on fire and I thought that was cool too. Why do the farmers set the crops on fire? It kind of looks like a war scene, and for a moment I was lost in a little reverie where I was a fearless army of one and I had to evade and thwart the enemy before they raped and murdered any more innocent women and children. And then a Britney song came on and I got distracted.

I couldn’t safely turn around to constantly check on my baby in the backseat, so instead I would reach my arm around, take a photo, and then look at the photo to make sure he was doing okay.

This is the funniest part: Remember last December when me and Trish and Jesse rented that cabin at Mt. Baker and our landlord was REALLY REALLY OBNOXIOUSLY “HELPFUL” by labeling everything in the fucking cabin? (If you’d like your memory jogged, all the photos are here.) So this landlord must have a brother who owns the gas station off I-5 at the Mercer County line. It’s seriously a middle-of-nowhere gas station, like the only edifice in 20 miles, and I stopped there for gas and decided I ought to use the restroom as well.

First, I saw this, which I thought was weird:

Then I actually entered the bathroom, and I had to muffle my hysterical laughter, lest someone think I was huffing paint in there. Here are the signs in the bathroom:

And then there was some VERY SPECIFIC DIRECTION about how to find the chocolate candy in a store the size of my bedroom.

You have no idea how hard it was to resist asking the clerk, deadpan, where the chocolate candy was. I posted these pics to my Facebook and this one reader was all like “I have been in that SAME gas station and I told everybody about those signs for weeks!” Ha. Small world. Weird signs.

Anyway. Safe at home, almost completely unpacked, cuddling with my baby Leo in bed. I miss Seattle and I miss my friends and my activities there, but I think this will be a nice mental shift for me. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

Category: I-5, Scottsdale, Seattle, gas station art, helpful signs, road trip
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Down Vests

Posted by Sasha – November 21, 2009

Normally on Fridays I’m home on my couch, never to be moved until Monday, by 6:30 pm. I honestly cannot remember the last time I went out on a Friday night in Seattle. The answer may be never. But today was a completely awesome day.

It started out at the office, where we’ve been celebrating 100 million RealPlayer SP video downloads all week. It’s a big deal around these parts. Here’s my friend Lacy and I posing at one of quite a few celebrations from this week:

Do you guys see what I am wearing? Mismatched denim and plaid. I look just like Lacy, who has lived in Seattle forever. With the onset of winter, my fashion sense is rapidly taking its cues from Seattleites. More on that later.

Today Lacy released the video I told you about. I think she did such an amazing job with it. It’s uber-cute. Chelsia and her gangsta chin-jut are at 0:30 and my head-banging is at 0:37:

After work I did some grocery shopping and some tanning (I know, I know, it’s terrible for my skin, but I swear to you it keeps me sane in this weather) and then went to meet my friend Kat for restorative yoga. I’ve blogged about it before, although this class was only 75 minutes as opposed to the three-hour ones I love. I was so excited for restorative yoga — where you find comfortable, “delicious” poses and hold them for 10-15 minutes while you breathe deeply and meditate. It’s just pure relaxation. I was looking forward to it because my legs muscles and my shoulder muscles are ON FIRE from the gym workouts I’ve done this week and then from dodgeball. I just needed to re-center my body without adding stress to my muscles. Unfortunately, our usual teacher was sick and we had a sub, who was like, “Yes, I know this is a restorative yoga class, but I think some light hatha flow work is also restorative.” So instead of spending an hour and fifteen minutes on my back, breathing and meditating, I was doing squats and down-dogs and basically all the exercises that would be most excruciating to my already excruciating muscles.

While I was disappointed, it’s good that the situation forced me to take a class with another yoga instructor. Normally I will not take anything if Lisa’s not teaching it, because Lisa is amazing and a yoga goddess and probably also my guru, but it’s nice to hear about yoga from someone completely different. I learned a lot from our substitute teacher, who clearly knew his yoga shit, and I was able to approach the practice from a new angle.

Afterward, I had dinner with Kat, and she’s one of those amazing girlfriends with whom I always just feel at ease. I can tell her things honestly — I can be vulnerable. I can tell her thoughts and feelings I have that I’m ashamed of, because they’re so silly and yet they consume so much of my thought space, and she puts it all in perspective for me. It’s so important to have friends in your life where you can do that, where you can say “These are the things that are wrong with me, this is the totally stupid and unwarranted resentment I’ve been carrying around toward some person I haven’t seen in two years, and here is a list of my insecurities,” and then they respond and you don’t feel judged. You don’t feel like they’re trying to act superior or prove that they’re smarter. You don’t feel that they will use your trust to betray you later. You just feel like you have a friend, a confidante, someone who can help you carry these things so it’s not all your burden, someone who can help you see the irrationality in your thought process, and someone who can just keep listening until you’re through it. I guess I’ve always had those friends. I’ve just been unwilling to open up to them, to show weakness. I had so much ego around the whole thing. But it’s something I’ve learned how to do just in the past three or four years, and I wish I’d learned it earlier. It makes life so much easier when you allow yourself to trust your friends.

After dinner, I did something I never ever do on a Friday night — I went out in Belltown. I put on makeup and brushed my hair and decided I was going to be a scenester. Starting with some amazing peeps I met at the Twitter conference, I’ve kind of been introduced to a whole different crew out here in Seattle, and I’m really impressed with them. They’re social media superstars, and all of them have a third-standard-deviation mastery of writing and web technology and marketing and just generally being a freakin’ blast to hang out with. Hanging out with them is also a really good way to keep my ego in check, and to practice humility. Their accomplishments and their skill sets are remarkable. I ended up meeting so many impressive people tonight, and having so many fantastic conversations, and my ass stayed out until nearly 1 am. On a Friday! I never do that. Anyway, see how much fun:

And look what I’m wearing here: a down vest. Let me tell you, that shit works. It was freezing and I kept my ass warm in this thing. I’m officially a Seattleite. I love my down vest, and I love Seattle.

Category: Belltown, RealNetworks, RealPlayer SP, Seattle, friendship, restorative yoga
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Raaaaaaaaaaain

Posted by Sasha – November 16, 2009

Seattle is like God’s bathroom shower right now. It just rains and rains and rains, all day long, with no signs of stopping. I am BEYOND DELIGHTED. But now that I’m FINALLY bouncing back from swine flu, I am completely super busy all day long with working and exercising and watching Biggest Loser and writing a terrible, terrible novel that nobody will ever publish but I WILL FINISH. It’s at 13,000 words you guys! That’s more words than I’ve ever written on a single topic in my entire life, I think, and that includes my master’s thesis. (It was a phenomenally half-assed master’s thesis, to be fair. But, hey, it got me a master’s degree!)

Anyway. I’ve been ignoring my personal blog. And I feel bad about that. But I also feel energized about RECLAIMING MY LIFE after laying (lying?) in bed for like 100 years — like goddamn Sleeping Beauty except for that I put on weight the whole time.

Category: NaNoWriMo, Seattle, rain, swine flu
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Still Sick But Not As Sick

Posted by Sasha – November 6, 2009

I’m finally starting to feel a little bit better. Well, it doesn’t matter, because I would have dragged myself out of bed and into the office today even if I had a fever of 102 like I did the first day. I could not spend another day in bed. I was going insane. It was horrible. So, yeah, I’m still pretty sick, I guess, but that didn’t stop me from having, like, an eight-hour day. I went to the pharmacy, then into the office for a bit, then back to the pharmacy, then to hang with friends, then to yummy Italian dinner with my friend Will (where I finally ate a real meal for the first time this week!) and now, at last, back home, where I will probably pass out promptly and then sleep for 15 hours. I hope.

Last night I went last night to one of Seattle’s “tweet-ups.” I know it sounds dorky, but it’s done by some of the people I met at the 140 Character Conference, and you guys know I’m actively trying to meet new people and do new things. I actually had an okay time, despite my traditional hatred of all things networking. I’m slowly getting involved in the tech scene out here, and the people so far have been very friendly and welcoming. I was still pretty sick last night, but I honestly would have rather been shivering and coughing in the corner of a bar, talking to drunk people, than shivering and coughing in my bed, stuck in my sick little brain.

I’m going to LA again on Sunday for work. Back Monday night. Long story. Will explain later, once I’m clear on how much of it I’m allowed to explain. But I think it’ll be a lot of fun, even though schlepping back and forth from LA is probably not the best thing for my health right now.

And how is my novel going, you ask? We’re almost at 5,000 words, beyotches. That’s 1/10th of the way through. Yes, I know, I’m still pretty far behind if I want to be on pace to make 50,000 words by the end of the month (I’m competing in NaNoWriMo, for those of you who don’t know), but I’m pretty damned proud of myself for sticking to it. I don’t have a plot yet, mind you, but we’re getting closer every day. I will write a novel, even if it sucks and I never let anyone see it!

Category: NaNoWriMo, Seattle, swine flu, tweet-up
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Today Was the Most Awesomest Day Ever!!!

Posted by Sasha – March 23, 2009

It is officially my birthday in 20 minutes, but we celebrated today. Let me tell you, the past two birthdays have been horrible. I was totally depressed on my 25th birthday and actually ended up crying at my party, and on my 26th birthday I had food poisoning and was puking and ghost-white and couldn’t even really get out of bed. Needless to say, I had my doubts about this one.

But I’ve been Little Miss Prayerful lately, just asking that I be able to appreciate having my mom and sister in town, and having plenty of friends to invite to my party, and asking that I be able to approach this birthday with love and gratitude and joy rather than with fear and envy and ego. And so far it has totally worked!

My mom and sister and I have been getting along fabulously, which has basically never happened before during this extent of time. We haven’t had a single fight. They made me wake up early this morning and we all walked to Starbucks, and then we came back home and they tag-teamed my hair, which still had a few stray tiny braids from the Renaissance Fair that I couldn’t get out. I seriously thought we were going to have to cut them, but Mom & Sis got ‘em out cleanly. Hooray!

Then we all headed out to Pike Place Market (which my mom kept calling “Pike’s Peak,” because she’s old and doesn’t learn new things very well). Pike Place is my absolute favorite tourist destination in Seattle. I really look forward to having visitors to take there. The market is just so vibrant and creative and cooperative and just basically makes you feel happy. Here’s a few pics from the market:

You may notice that my mom is not in any of these pics. This is not because we refuse to photograph her, it’s because she is ADAMANT about not having her photo on my blog, despite the fact that she is a beautiful woman who looks about half her age and weighs about half what I do. Honestly, people mistake her for my sister. Many people request not to have their photos on my blog, and I deny those requests. The only reason I allow my mom to stay off my blog is because I also don’t post my father’s face, at his request. And one time my mom was like, “Why is your father’s face never on your blog?” and I was like, “Because he asked me not to use pictures of him,” and she was like, “Well so did I!” and I was like, “Yeah, but he was serious.” Of course, this became a giant hullabaloo and my mother refused to be photographed ever until I promised her that I would, in all seriousness, not post her face on my blog. So that’s why you won’t see my gorgeous mother in any of these pics. My sister wishes I would do the same for her, but really that’s never going to happen unless it turns out that we miraculously have a brother whom I take seriously.

Back to my day. We had lunch at the Market, and then I decided I needed a new dress for my birthday party tonight. So we went to Nordstrom, which I loooove, because they just take such good care of you there. The girl pulled a ton of gorgeous dresses for me and I tried them all on. My mom, of course, preferred a simple, chic, sleeveless baby blue Calvin Klein. I, of course, preferred the bright red one that used about five total inches of fabric in the chest. The rest of the dressing room agreed with me. And, because Nordstrom rocks, they had a “lingerie consultant” come in and find the PERFECT bra to compliment this dress (it is not an easy dress to find a bra for), and so basically I looked like Selma Hayek between my neck and my waist. Needless to say, I was delighted.

I have to admit I was totally nervous for my party tonight. I’m always a wreck before any party I’m hosting. I’m always sure that no one’s going to come and no one’s going to have fun and it’s going to be a giant disaster. I had a couple friends email or text me today to be like, “I’m so sorry, something came up, I can’t make it.” This is totally what always happens the day of a party, and I expected it, but of course it made me think that no one was actually going to be there.

SOOO NOT TRUE!!!! I had a bunch of friends show up! The restaurant we went to, Wild Ginger in downtown Seattle, actually had reserved a separate party room for us. When I called on Friday, they told me they didn’t have any rooms left for that night, so I didn’t think we’d get a room, but I guess one had opened up. The waitstaff was fantastic, and they just took such great care of us. They kept the drinks coming and brought tons of yummy food and all my favorite people were there!!! I just have the bestest friends. My mom commented on the ride home, “You know, Sash, you just have the most intelligent and beautiful and kind group of friends. It’s amazing how you land in any city and just find the smartest and sweetest people there.” And it’s true! I don’t know why or how, but the people who come into my life are just so fantastic in so many ways. I laughed pretty much the whole night, and I think everyone else had a good time, too. And it wasn’t a fake laugh, it was for real. I was just so happy to be around my friends, who know me so well. I got some killer presents, including gorgeous earrings, a vegan cookbook, bath soaps, flowers and an old-school Kristen Stewart movie. (My friend Katie, who reads Evil Beet, was like, “I bet she’s not giving a fuck the whoooole time.” Ha!)

So all in all, it was a very fantastic birthday, and, even better, my ACTUAL birthday hasn’t even started yet! I’m not sure what my mom and sister and I are doing tomorrow to celebrate March 24, but I’m pretty sure it can’t top today. It was really a gift to have such a great time with my friends and family. I needed a day like today — it re-energized my spirits and gave me a lot of hope. I’m just delighted to FINALLY be starting off a year on a high note.